Biography of pablo picasso. Boy Leading Horse "Old Guitarist"

One of the most controversial figures in contemporary art, one who was constantly changing, not imitating anyone, taking the world of art with him, from the classical canons of the beauty of lines and composition to the complete deformation of space.

Knowledge and Mercy, 1897

Salon Prado, 1897

From an early age, Picasso began to show promise as a future great artist, in which his mother tirelessly supported him, and his father, as a painting teacher, helped to master the basics of art.

Pablo with his sister Lola, 1889

Throughout his studies, Picasso's sister was a constant model for paintings. He painted many portraits of her.

The artist's sister Lola, 1900

Yellow picador

This painting is considered one of the first paintings by Picasso, which the boy painted under the impression of a bullfight. Bullfighting remained his passion all his life.

Bullfight, 1901

Bullfighting, or the death of a matador, 1933

By the way, the artist's real name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz and Picasso, but since Ruiz is one of the most common surnames in Spain, Pablo left Picasso's maternal surname. If you listen to the sounds, then associations come to mind with picador(from picar- stabbing) and bullfighting, and you will be right!

But this is a participant in a bullfight on a horse, armed with a special lance, with which he strikes at the scruff of a fighting bull in order to weaken the muscles of his neck and make sure his reaction to pain. And here's something else, Picasso's passion for this cruel, but no less fascinating duel between two creatures, unites him with one of the most famous artists Francisco de Goya, who also gravitated towards this action, seeing something primitive, bewitching.

Francisco de Goya "Picador"

Francisco de Goya "Death of a Picador", 1793

Pablo was inspired by the works of many great masters like El Greco, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Cranach, Poussin, Ingres, Titian, Courbet, Delacroix, Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, Manet... He copied and then created portraits in the style of great masters and could be a completely traditional artist, a high-class realist, but, as he later said, “duplicating the visible world in his paintings is pointless”.

Pablo Picasso: "Art is a lie that leads to truth."

Pablo Picasso "The Rape of the Sabine Women", 1963

Pablo Picasso "The Rape of the Sabine Women", 1962

Pablo Picasso "The Rape of the Sabine Women", 1962

Peter Paul Rubens "The Rape of the Sabine Women"

Nicolas Poussin "The Rape of the Sabine Women", 1537. Louvre, Paris

"Meninas" (after Velazquez), 1957

Another option.

Compare with the original painting Diego Velazquez "Meninas" (1656).

Picasso explored the work of many of his predecessors, but perhaps no picture of the past received such attention as "Breakfast on the Grass" by Edouard Manet... Within two years (1961-1962), Pablo Picasso created 26 paintings (14 of them in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris), six linocuts and 140 drawings of his versions of Manet's painting.

Edouard Manet "Breakfast on the Grass", 1863

But even at the age of 12, Pablo painted like this ...

Male torso, cast, 1893

At the age of 15, he entered the Madrid Academy of Arts, the most prestigious art institution in the country, but after six months of training, he realized that he was not getting anything new, and left his studies to independently study the painting of the great Spanish artists in the Prado Museum, mainly Velasquez and El Greco.

Copy of the portrait of Philip IV (from the painting by Velazquez, 1653), 1898

Diego Velazquez "Portrait of King Philip IV of Spain", 1656

El Greco's style is recognizable in its elongated shapes and shades of gray paint.

Portrait of a Stranger, 1899

Portrait of Lola Ruiz Picasso, 1901

Portrait of Carlos Casagemas, 1899

Portrait of Josep Cardona, 1899

At the age of 17, he returned to Barcelona, ​​where he found himself among the avant-garde artists, leads a bohemian lifestyle and is imbued with new trends. He is a member of the circle of artists and writers revolving around the Four Cats cafe-bar-cabaret, opened by analogy with the bohemian Parisian establishment “Black Cat”. He now writes under the influence of the Impressionists, in particular, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas.

Sofa, 1899

In the wardrobe, 1900

At this time, Picasso met the novice artist Carlos Casagemas, with whom they almost never parted, had fun together, and did art exhibitions. In 1900, they first went to Paris, got acquainted with the artistic life of the capital. Picasso visits all the museums in Paris, studies the art of the Impressionists live, meets art dealers, gets the first money for his paintings, and new ones are ordered for him. Pablo begins to understand that his life in art must be connected with Paris.
He explores the artistic life of the capital of the world, but also the life of the city - the nightlife of bars, cabarets and brothels, impressed by the relaxedness and freedom of this city, as well as influenced by the Impressionists. Following the tradition started Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo captures images of the then famous Parisian ballroom Moulin de la Galette.

Moulin de la Galette, 1900

However, after the suicide of his best friend Carlos Casagemas, who shot himself in the head in front of friends and cafe visitors because of unhappy love, Picasso felt guilty that he did not prevent the tragedy, did not go with him to Paris, but stayed in Barcelona to do his exhibition. This is how it began "Blue period", which lasted from 1901 to 1905. The cold, gloomy coloring of his works, almost monochrome painting with tragic, depressing characters, was consonant at that time with his worldview.

Grim despair

Celestine (Woman with a Thorn), 1904

Such sadness, despair, hopelessness, silent suffering have never been seen in world art, he created works in an unprecedented early style. By the way, the famous American jazz trumpet player Miles Davis, who had a significant influence on the development of music of the 20th century, was inspired by the works of the "blue period", as can be judged by the design of his albums and creativity.

In 1904, Pablo Picasso finally moved to Paris and settled in Montmartre, in the artists' hostel known as Bateau Lavoir.

In addition to close-minded young people, Pablo meets here Fernando Olivier, who sometimes comes to Bateau Lavoir to pose for artists.

Pablo Picasso and Fernanda Olivier in Montmartre with dogs, 1904

Pablo Picasso, Fernanda Olivier and Hakin Reventos, Barcelona, ​​1906

They lived together for almost a decade. According to the researchers, she was the model for the creation of the Avignon Maidens, one of the main paintings by Picasso. These positive changes led to a new round in the work of Picasso - the so-called "Pink period" (1904-1906) when he paints pictures full of grace, subtlety and charm in cheerful colors, mostly red, orange, pink and gray shades.
There are many subjects among his works. with circus performers, French comedians(he and his friends often visit the circus, which is located next to their dormitory). By the way, interest in circus performers was very common in the art of the early 20th century - wandering artists were poor, but creative and independent people, like avant-garde artists. For people of art, the circus theme symbolized freedom and independence. It is believed that Picasso often portrays himself in the role of the Harlequin, and in the role of other characters - his friends.

In a cabaret Lapin Agil, or Harlequin with a glass, 1905

Seated Harlequin, 1905

Acrobat and Young Harlequin, 1905

Girl on a ball, 1905

Family of Comedians, 1905

One of his most famous works of the "pink period" is the painting "Boy with a Pipe" (1905).

At this time, Picasso finds his long-term patrons - Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo- collectors who begin to buy paintings by an almost mendicant artist and exhibit them in their gallery. Subsequently, Gertrude Stein writes: “In 1904 he came to Paris again. There he again began to become a little French, that is, France again captivated and seduced him ... And this weakened his Spanish seriousness, and ... he freed himself from the blue period, from the revived Spanish spirit in him, and when this was over, painting began, which now called the rose or harlequin period. Here he closely communicated with Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob and André Salmon, and they all constantly saw each other. Artists have always loved the circus, even now that cinema and nightclubs have replaced it, they like to remember circus clowns and acrobats. At that time, they visited the Medrano circus at least once a week and they were very flattered by close communication with clowns, jugglers, horses and riders ... Then he would free himself from this, from the circus and elegant French poetry, he would free himself from them, just the same , how I got rid of the blue period earlier. "

Many found inspiration from Picasso, for example, the famous American singer, rock musician David Bowie.

One of the last works of this time Boy Leading a Horse (1906), which amazes with its monumentality and grandeur, and at the same time, the artist here follows the classical canons.

Therefore, his greatest creation "Maidens of Avignon" created in 1907,

marks the beginning of a new "African period" (1907-1909) in the work of the artist, influenced by the ancient art of Africa and Spain.

Spain

If you look closely at the picture, then the two characters on the right quite definitely refer us to the images of African masks, which captured Picasso's imagination with their primitive strength and incredible power. I can not help but note that this picture is very similar Fields of Cezanne and his "Bathers".

Pablo wrote The Maidens of Avignon with great care throughout the year. And she certainly made a real sensation for that time, since such a style turned out to be a bold experiment, and in addition, it became the first step of painting on the path to Cubism, in addition, many art critics consider it the starting point of modern art. It seems that the picture has no plot, but, at the same time, it is filled with a completely different, mystical, "looking-glass" meaning. Complete transformation of the human body, where there is no beauty, smoothness of the corners, peer, at least, into these monstrous eyes. This builds up tension, and inside the picture is already maturing a clash of angels and demons, good and evil, seen by the artist through the shards of glass. Another interesting detail is the hand pulling back the curtain in the background, which has a double meaning: it reveals the space of cubism to the viewer, and also testifies to the theatricality of what is happening on the canvas. Painting and theater are two of Picasso's hobbies that can be found in this picture.

The face of his patroness Gertrude in the painting of the same name "Portrait of Gertrude Stein" (1905-1906), already clearly reminds us of an African mask with wide and narrow slits in the eyes.

A new period comes to replace "Analytical cubism" (1909-1912) when an object is crushed into small parts that are clearly separated from each other, the object form seems to blur on the canvas. Picasso's quest was based on his belief that painting can do more than just show what the eye sees. There must be a way to show the world "as it really is." One should write “not what I see, but what I know,” as Picasso said. Show not - visible, but - existent.

Fan, salt shaker, melon, 1909

Woman Sitting in a Chair, 1910

One of the distinctive features of painting from the period of analytical cubism is monochrome. "Color weakens!" - Declares Picasso, observing the experiments of Matisse in painting. And he himself focuses on the shape and volume of objects. The second thing he refused was the separation of things, their differences in texture and material. Also, in Cubism, any perspective disappears, so the concept of where an object is located, far or near, has absolutely no meaning. As a result, in Cubist paintings we see a very strange, fantastic, monochrome image, which creates the illusion of a kind of metaphysical space protruding from the plane of the canvas with its edges. The object and the background surrounding it are one and the same, and individual objects in this single structure of reality do not have clearly defined boundaries. We see only an incomprehensible, icy, fragmented, homogeneous mass, which has no texture, internal differences, and we can guess what is depicted only by individual details-hints. Picasso called them "attributes". Somewhere a hand is visible, somewhere a mustache, or a key, or a guitar neck, but they are all created from the same conventional "substance". But these are only symbols and signs of objects, not themselves. Cubism, thus, set itself not a pictorial, but a philosophical task.

The Man with the Clarinet, 1911

Torero, 1912

Renowned French painter, graphic artist, set designer, sculptor and decorator Georges Braque from 1907 he joined Picasso's artistic quest, and then became an equal partner in their creative union. Let's take a look at a few of Georges Braque's paintings.

Now let's look at their joint projects.

Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier), 1910

The figure of the girl and the background are like a single picturesque universe, built by the artist from the same type of "blocks". Space is like a sculpture. The artist disassembles the world into elements and assembles a new reality - the reality of a work of art.

Mandolinist, 1911

At the same time, the volume, the use of real light and shadow on sculptural volumes, spaces, shifts of planes, shapes, volumes, variation of voids and fullness in the future opened the door to a new direction in painting - abstractionism, for example, a bright representative of this direction is Mark Rothko.

Cubism had a noticeable influence on the emergence of the style art deco (or art deco), especially his way of dismembering objects and analyzing their geometric components. Distinctive features of this style are strict regularity, bold geometric shapes, ethnic geometric patterns, richness of colors, generous ornaments, luxury, expensive materials.

Chrysler skyscraper in New York

Furniture from Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann.

Or creations Emil Brandt.

They even made cars.

Famous French woman fashion designer Coco Chanel, had a tremendous impact on 20th century fashion, bringing a fitted jacket and a little black dress into women's fashion, primarily promoting the modernization of women's fashion, borrowing many elements of the traditional men's wardrobe and following the principle of luxurious simplicity. She also brought elements of cubism into her work.

The straight silhouette of 1920s fashion continues the tradition of Cubism.

A Guggenheim Museum, a museum of modern art in Bilbao, Spain - incorporates elements of cubism, embodying the abstract idea of ​​a futuristic ship.

Pablo Picasso - the great Spanish painter, cubist, sculptor, art worker, remembered for the unique style of his paintings and the trendsetter of the subsequent fashion for art. The full name of this genius artist is Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Ruiz.

Picasso worked very hard and, in tandem with George Braque, founded the so-called style of painting - cubism. It is indisputable that he had a considerable influence on all the art that followed him, since he still has many imitators and students who follow his work.

The earliest painting by Pablo Picasso is Picador, which was painted at the age of 8. He learned to paint by Picasso from his father, who was an art teacher. Then he studied at various art schools, among which were such as: the school of fine arts in Barcelona, ​​the school in A Coruña. The first exhibition of works took place in Barcelona in June 1989, in the Els Quatre Gats cafe. Pablo got acquainted with the work of the Impressionists later, after he left for Paris. Already here, after the suicide of his best friend and as a result of some depression, a period occurs in his life, which later all art critics of the world will call " Blue Period”. This style will already develop in Barcelona, ​​when the artist returns. This period in the life of Picasso's paintings is characterized by despondency, expression of death and old age, depression, melancholy, sadness. The works that belong to the blue period are the Absinthe Drinker, Date, the Beggar old man with the boy. It was also called blue due to the fact that blue shades predominate in the paintings of this period.

In 1904, when the great Spanish artist settled in Paris in a hostel for poor artists, the blue period gave way to pink, in which grief and images of death were replaced by more vital scenes from the theater, the life stories of itinerant comedians, the life of actors and acrobats. Pink hues prevailed in his paintings, which is why they got the name "pink period".

As mentioned earlier, together with George Braque, somewhere around 1907, he became the founder of Cubism due to the fact that he moved in his work from the image to the analysis of form and components. Cubism in all its manner rejected naturalism and, according to many art critics, was inspired by Pablo Picasso as a result of his passion for African sculpture, which is distinguished by its angularity, grotesque advancement of forms, and characteristic ornament. African sculpture in general influenced many currents of fine art, for example, in addition to Picasso, she helped Matisse create Fauvism.

In 1925, pink and cheerful paintings were replaced by the most difficult and difficult period in the artist's life. Cubism develops into completely surreal and surreal images. His monsters and creatures, screaming and torn to pieces, were inspired by the then surrealist revolution in painting and literature. Then there was the fear of fascism, which hung over all of Europe, which also influenced the work of Pablo: Fishing at night in Antibes, Maya and her doll, Guernica. The last picture, which depicts the horrors of war, is associated with a well-known story. Once a Nazi officer, seeing a photograph of Guernica, asked Picasso: "Did you do this?", To which he replied: "You did it!"

After the war, a new mood takes possession of him, since a series of pleasant events: love for Françoise Gilot, the birth of two children, gives him a happy and bright period in his work, inhabited by life, family, and happiness.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso died in 1973 at his villa in France. The great artist was buried near the castle, which belonged to him personally and was called Vovenart.

Pablo Picasso paintings

All pictures open in full size with descriptions! (CLICKABLE)

In 1892-1895 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in A Coruña, in 1895-1897 - at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, ​​where he received a gold medal for his painting Science and Charity (1897).

In 1950, Picasso was elected to the World Peace Council.

In the 1950s, the artist wrote many variations on the theme of famous masters of the past, resorting to a cubist style of painting: "Algerian women. By Delacroix" (1955), "Breakfast on the grass. By Manet" (1960), "Girls on the banks of the Seine. According to Courbet "(1950)," Meninas. According to Velazquez "(1957).

In 1958, Picasso created the composition "The Fall of Icarus" for the UNESCO building in Paris.

In the 1960s, Picasso created a 15-meter-high monumental sculptural composition for a community center in Chicago.

- one of the most "expensive" artists in the world - the estimate (pre-sale estimate) of his work exceeds hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pablo Picasso has been married twice. In 1918 he married Olga Khokhlova, ballerina of the Diaghilev troupe (1891-1955). In this marriage, the artist had a son, Paul (1921-1975). After Olga's death in 1961, the artist married Jacqueline Roque (1927-1986). Picasso also had illegitimate children - daughter Maya from Marie-Thérèse Walter, son Claude and daughter Paloma from artist Françoise Gilot.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

1906 year

Technique: Canvas, oil

More works of the year

Comments (1)

Alexandra, Vladivostok
05 january
in my opinion, the image of a horse is the image of a woman, a girl. if you squint, see how the horse's light skin contrasts with the boy's dark complexion. and the refinement and slenderness of the horse's forelegs create the image of a woman's thighs. the boy's hand lies somewhere on the "pubic" of this image. it feels like this hand is reaching out from the "belly" of the image of a woman, born from there ...

2011

Mark, St. Petersburg
06 march
great picture. Picasso could paint in any style. I like more realistic style.

Margarita, Kirov
February 22
perhaps I will make a copy of this picture .. bewitching))

Natalia, Moscow
January 21
Stanislav, you gave me the idea that, perhaps, the idea of ​​the picture is simple sincerity, which without any cunning and complexity, without effort and violence can entail, interest, make a true leader. The horse feels strength, but does not obey, namely, wants to follow the boy

Stanislav,
11 january
It's amazing that the boy seems to be holding the horse by the reins, but they are not really there.

2010

Anna, Novosibirsk
12 December
Probably, Picasso wanted to convey the pristine purity of man, free from everything material. The artist takes unnecessary things from him, puts him on a par with a bareback horse, thereby debunking the idea of ​​him as a "crown of nature".

Alexander, Almaty
08 december
An amazingly harmonious composition!

Valentina Borkovskaya, Ryazan
The 25th of January
Great picture. Both the horse and the boy are alive.

From the site http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.ru/

Biography

1. Childhood and years of study (1881-1900)

Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in the city of Malaga, the Anadalusian province of Spain. At the baptism, Picasso received the full name of Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de los Remedios Crispin Crispinano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz and Picasso - which, according to Spanish custom, was a series of names of revered saints and relatives of the family. Picasso is the mother's surname, which Pablo took, because his father's surname seemed too ordinary to him, besides, Picasso's father, Jose Ruiz, was an artist himself.

Pablo showed an early talent for drawing. From the age of 7, he studied drawing techniques from his father, who first instructed him to finish painting the pigeons' legs in his paintings. But once, entrusting thirteen-year-old Pablo to finish painting a rather large still life, he was so impressed by his son's technique that, according to legend, he gave up painting himself.

At the age of 13, Pablo Picasso brilliantly entered the Barcelona Academy of Arts. It took Picasso a week to prepare for the exam, which usually took students a month. He impressed the commission with his skill and was admitted to the Academy despite his young age. Picasso's father, together with his uncle, decided to send Pablo to the San Fernando Academy of Madrid, which at that time was considered the most advanced Art School in all of Spain. So, Pablo came to Madrid in 1897 at the age of 16. However, classes at the School of Arts did not last long, less than a year, and Pablo was fascinated by all the other delights of Madrid life, as well as studying the works of the artists that impressed him at the time - Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya, and especially El Greco.

Portrait of the artist's mother 1896

A collection of early works by Picasso is in Barcelona, ​​in the Picasso Museum. The most famous of them: "First Communion" (1896) - a large painting depicting Picasso's sister Lola, "Self-portrait" (1896), "Portrait of a Mother" (1896). As an adult and once visiting an exhibition of children's drawings, Picasso said: "At their age I painted like Raphael, but it took me a whole life to learn how to draw like them."

While studying in Madrid, Picasso made his first tour to Paris, the then recognized European capital of the arts. There, for several months, he visited all museums without exception, studying the paintings of the great masters: Delacroix, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Gauguin and many others. He was also fond of the art of the Phoenicians and Egyptians, Gothic sculpture, Japanese prints. Pablo was interested in absolutely everything. Then, in the first years of his life in Paris, he met the collector and art dealer Ambroise Vollard, the poets Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire and many others. He visited Paris again in 1901 and 1902, and had already moved there definitively by 1904.
2. "Blue" period (1901-1904)

Life 1903

The "blue" period includes works created between 1901 and 1904. Blue-gray and blue-green deep cold colors, colors of sadness and despondency, are constantly present in them. Picasso called blue "the color of all colors." Frequent subjects in these paintings are emaciated mothers with children, vagabonds, beggars, and the blind. The most famous works of this period: "Life" (1903), "Breakfast of the Blind" (1903), "Meager Meal" (1904), "The Absinthe Drinker" (1901), "Date" (1902), "Mother and Child" ( 1903), "An old beggar with a boy" (1903, "Ironer" (1904), "Two" (1904).

3. "Pink" period (1904 - 1906)

Harlequin sitting on a red bench 1905
paper, ink, watercolor

The "pink period" is characterized by more cheerful tones - ocher and pink, as well as stable themes of images - harlequins, wandering actors, acrobats ("A Family of Comedians" (1905), "The Acrobat and a Young Harlequin" (1905), "Jester" (1905) Fascinated by the comedians who became the models for his paintings, he often visited the Medrano circus, during this time the harlequin was a favorite character of Picasso.In 1904 in Picasso he met the model Fernando Olivier, who inspired him to create many significant works of this period.They lived in the center of the bohemian Parisian life and the mecca of Parisian artists Bateau Lavoir.This strange dilapidated building with dark staircases and winding corridors was the home of a very motley company: artists, poets, merchants, janitors ... wrote his Fernanda and looked for his own way.

The famous "Girl on a Ball" (1905) belongs to the transitional paintings between the "blue" and "pink" periods. The artist plays on the contrast and balance of forms or lines, heaviness and lightness, stability and instability. Also at the end of the "pink period" appeared "antique" paintings - "Boy leading a horse" (1906), "Girl with a goat" (1906) and others.
4. "African" period (1907 - 1909)

The girls of Avignon 1907
canvas, oil

In 1906, Picasso worked on a portrait of Gertrude Stein. He rewrote it about eighty times and, according to the recollections of Gertrude Stein herself, as a result, Picasso said to her in a rage: "I stopped seeing you when I look at you." and left work on the portrait. This was a turning point in his work and from here began Picasso's path from depicting specific people to depicting a person as such and to form as an independent structure. Picasso needed confirmation of his path in the general development of world art and new impressions for gaining new creative energy and the discovery by science of that time of a whole layer of African culture served as an impetus for the artist's work. He was especially interested in African sculpture and masks, he considered them endowed with magical powers and found in them a sensual simplicity of form. Most likely it was these "African influences" that determined the final version of the portrait.

In 1907, the famous "Avignon Maidens" appeared. The artist worked on them for more than a year - for a long time and carefully, as he had not worked on his other paintings before. The first reaction of the public is shock. Matisse was furious. Even most of my friends didn't accept the job. "It feels like you wanted to feed us tow or to give us gasoline," said the artist Georges Braque, a new friend of Picasso. The scandalous painting, the name of which was given by the poet A. Salmon, was the first step of painting on the path to Cubism, and many art critics consider it the starting point of modern art.

5. Cubism (1909 - 1917)

Three Musicians or Masked Musicians, 1921

Nude, 1909
canvas, oil

Woman with a Fan, 1908
canvas, oil

In the "cubic" period of Picasso, several stages are distinguished. "Cezanne" cubism, presented in the works "Cans and bowls" (1908), "Three women" (1908), "Woman with a fan" (1909) and others, is characterized by "Cezanne" tones - ocher, greenish, brown, but more blurry, muddy and using simple geometric shapes from which the image is built. "Analytical" cubism: an object is split into small parts, which are clearly separated from each other, the object form, as it were, diffuses onto the canvas. "Portrait of Ambroise Vollard" (1910), "Factory in Horta de San Juan" (1909), "Portrait of Fernanda Olivier" (1909), "Portrait of Kahnweiler" (1910). At the stage of "synthetic" cubism, Picasso's works take on a decorative and contrasting character. The paintings mostly depict still lifes with various objects: musical instruments, sheet music, bottles of wine, smoking pipes, cutlery, posters ... Also, fearing the transformation of cubism into purely abstract aesthetic exercises, understandable only to a narrow circle, Picasso and Braque used in their works of real objects: wallpaper, sand, ropes, etc. Works of the "synthetic" period: "Still life with a wicker chair" (1911-1912), Pernod bottle (table in a cafe) "(1912)" Violin and guitar "(1913).

Despite the rejection of Cubism by the majority, Picasso's paintings are very well bought. At last the beggarly existence ends, and in September 1909 Pablo and Fernanda moved to a spacious and bright workshop on Clichy, 11. Of course, Picasso did not forget to transport his obligatory mess: fancy bottles and vases, guitars, an old carpet, paintings by the favorite artists - Matisse, Cezanne, Rousseau, a collection of African masks ... He always said that he was terrified of harmony and good taste. He bought things he liked without caring how they looked together.

In the fall of 1911, Picasso parted ways with Fernanda. His new muse was Eve (Marcel Humbert), with whom he lived and created his cubic works in Montparnasse and Avignon. One of the works dedicated to Eve - "Nude, I love Eve" (1912). Then came the sad years: war, mobilization and parting with many friends, unexpected illness and the tragic death of Eve.

6. Neoclassicism (1918 - 1925)

seated harlequin, 1923
canvas, oil

In the spring of 1917, the poet Jean Cocteau, who collaborated with Sergei Diaghilev, invited Picasso to make sketches of costumes and scenery for the future ballet. The artist went to work in Rome, where he fell in love with one of the dancers of the Diaghilev troupe - Olga Khokhlova. They married in 1918 and had a son, Paul, in 1921.

At this time, his canvases are very far from cubism; on them: clear and understandable forms, light colors, correct faces. The most expressive painting of these years is "Portrait of Olga in an Armchair" (1917). Picasso was actively criticized for changing the style, as previously criticized for Cubism. To these accusations, he replied in an interview: "Whenever I want to say something, I speak in the manner in which, in my opinion, it should be said." Other paintings of the "realistic" period: "Bathers" (1918), "Women Running on the Beach" (1922), "Childhood Portrait of Paul Picasso" (1923).

7. Surrealism (1925 - 1936)

nude on the beach, 1929
canvas, oil

"Beauty will be convulsive, or it won't be," said André Breton, the founder of surrealism, a movement in art that set itself the task of comprehending the true depths of artistic creativity through penetration into the world of dreams and the unconscious.
In 1925, Picasso painted the painting "Dance". Aggressive, painful, with deformed figures, it reflects a difficult period in the artist's family life and at the same time proclaims a new turning point in his work. Picasso is close to the surrealists, but he always has his own path.
Works from this period: "Bather Opening a Booth" (1928), "Figures on the Beach" (1931), "Woman with a Flower" (1932), etc.

On a cold January day in 1927, Picasso met seventeen-year-old Maria Theresa Walter. He bought the Boazhelu castle for her, and there she became his only model and heroine of several of his famous works, for example The Mirror (1932, private collection), The Girl in Front of the Mirror (1932, Museum of Modern Art, New York); the sculpture "Woman with a Vase" was also made from it (now this sculpture stands on the artist's grave)). In 1935, Maria Teresa gave birth to a daughter, Maya, but by 1936 Picasso had separated from both women, although he was not officially divorced from Olga Khokhlova until her death in 1955.

In 1930-1934, Picasso was fond of sculpture and created a number of sculptural works in the spirit of surrealism: "Lying Woman" (1932), "Man with a Bouquet" (1934), and with the help of his Spanish friend, sculptor Julio Gonzalez, he constructs various metal abstract structures ... In the same 30s. he creates a number of engravings-illustrations for Ovid's Metamorphoses (1930) and the works of Aristophanes (1934), testifying to the fact that the classics have always been a strong source of inspiration for him.

8. War in Spain. Guernica. World War II (1937-1945)

Guernica 1937
canvas, oil

Since the 1930s, such a key theme and image for him as a bull, the Minotaur, appears in the work of Picasso. The artist creates a number of works with this character ("Minotauromachia", 1935), while Picasso interprets the myth of the Minotaur in his own way. For Picasso, the bull, the Minotaur is destructive forces, war and death.
The apogee of the development of this theme was the famous painting by Picasso "Guernica" (1937). Guernica is a small Basque town in northern Spain, practically wiped off the face of the earth by German aircraft on May 1, 1937. This huge (almost eight meters long and three and a half high) monochrome (black, white, gray) painting was first exhibited in the Republican Pavilion of Spain at the World Exhibition in Paris.
One day, the Gestapo searched the house of Picasso. A Nazi officer, seeing a photograph of "Guernica" on the table, asked: "Did you do that?" "No" - answered the artist - "you did it."
In the same period, a series of monsters "Dreams and Lies of General Franco" (1937) was created (in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, Picasso supported the Republicans and opposed the supporters of General Franco) and a number of paintings on similar topics: Antibach "(1939)," Weeping Woman "(1937) (the last picture he painted with Dora Maar, a Yugoslav woman photographer, whom Picasso met in 1936; she became famous for capturing the stages of Picasso's work on" Guernica ").

During the Second World War, Picasso lived in France, where he became close to the communist participants in the Resistance (in 1944, Picasso even joined the French Communist Party). At this time, he creates such paintings with the same leitmotif of a bull, war and death: Still Life with a Bull Skull (1942), Morning Serenade (1942, National Museum of Modern Art, Center Pompidou, Paris), Slaughterhouse ( 1944-1945, Museum of Modern Art, New York) and the sculpture "The Man with the Lamb" (1944), which was subsequently installed in front of the old Romanesque cathedral in the shopping area of ​​the city of Vallauris in the south of France.
9. Post-war period (1945 - 1960e)
Already in peacetime, in 1946, Picasso made a picturesque ensemble of 27 panels and paintings for the castle of the princely Grimaldi family in Antibes, a resort town on the Mediterranean coast of France. The panel in the first room is called "The Joy of Being" and the whole series is sustained in the same spirit of harmony with nature and being - images of fauns, naked girls, centaurs, fairy-tale creatures ...

portrait of Françoise, 1946
pencil on paper

In 1946, Picasso met the young artist Françoise Gilot and moved with her to the Grimaldi castle. Françoise soon gives him a son, Claude, and a daughter, Paloma. The painting "Flower Woman" is dedicated to Françoise. (In 1953, Françoise fled from Picasso with two children due to his difficult character and constant betrayal, the artist was very upset by this separation, which was reflected in a number of his works of that time - for example, in a series of ink drawings depicting a disgusting old dwarf in buffoonery contrasting with a young and beautiful girl).

In 1949, Picasso painted his famous "Dove of Peace" on the poster of the World Peace Congress in Paris, and in 1951 he created the political picture "Massacre in Korea" (Picasso Museum, Paris). Since 1947, Picasso has lived in the south of France, in the city of Vallauris, where in 1952 he painted the walls of the old chapel with allegorical symbols of war and peace, and he himself calls all this the "Temple of Peace". In Vallauris, Picasso took up ceramics. He creates his favorite characters - centaurs, fauns, bulls, pigeons, women, makes anthropomorphic jugs. Until now, in this small town in the south of France, the so-called "ceramic workshops" have survived, which continue to keep the Picasso brand and replicate products invented by the artist. In 1958, the already recognized and renowned artist created the monumental composition "The Fall of Icarus" for the UNESCO building in Paris. In 1961, almost 80-year-old Picasso married 34-year-old beauty Jacqueline Rock. She inspires him with a series of portraits showing her chiseled Sphinx profile. For her and himself, he buys a villa in Cannes.
10. Recent years (late 60s - 1973)

In the 1960s, Picasso painted various variations on themes from renowned masters - Velazquez, Goya, Manet in a free scandalous cubist manner: "Girls on the Banks of the Seine. According to Courbet" (1950, Art Museum, Basel), "Algerian women. By Delacroix" (1955), "Meninas. According to Velazquez" (1957), "Breakfast on the grass. According to Manet" (1960).

Also in his later work, the artist often turns to the portrait of a woman (portraits of Jacqueline Roque). Jacqueline remains the last and faithful woman of Picasso and cares for him, already sick, blind and hard of hearing, until his death. Picasso died on April 8, 1973 at the age of 92, a multimillionaire, in the city of Mougins in France and was buried near the castle Vauvenargue, which belonged to him. He left behind more than 80 thousand works (according to other sources, about 20 thousand). About death, Picasso himself said: "I think about Death all the time. She is just a woman who will never leave me." During the artist's lifetime, the Picasso Museum in Barcelona was opened in 1970 (the paintings for this museum were donated by Picasso himself), and in 1985, through the efforts of the artist's heirs, the Picasso Museum in Paris was already created, numbering more than 200 paintings, more than 150 sculptures and several thousand drawings, collages, prints, documents.

The work of Picasso radically influenced the development of art and culture throughout the 20th century. And at world auctions, more and more, still little-known works of the renowned master from his vast heritage are still found and put up for sale.

"Self-portrait". 1972 year

Technique: Colored pencils

Collection: Tokyo, Fuji Television Gallery