Picasso is considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer. His productivity was unmatched, with tens of thousands of works to his name, including grou
The life and art of Pablo Picasso, the genius painter who pioneered Cubism
Picasso is considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer. His productivity was unmatched, with tens of thousands of works to his name, including groundbreaking abstract paintings such as “Guernica.” Today on his 136th birth anniversary, here is a list of 10 interesting facts about the legend.
Pablo Picasso was born as Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Crispiniano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso on 25th October, 1881 in Spain. IN PIC: Pablo Picasso (L) with his sister Lola, 1889. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
Picasso’s mother, María Picasso y López, said that his first words were “piz, piz” which was short for lápiz and that is the Spanish word for “pencil”. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
Pablo completed his first painting when he was nine years old. The title of the painting was Le Picador. The image is of a man riding a horse in a bullfight. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
His first major painting, an 'academic' work is First Communion, featuring a portrait of his father, mother, and younger sister kneeling before an altar. Picasso was 15 when he finished it. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
Picasso’s work is divided into periods known as: the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1905–1907), the African-influenced Period (1908–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919). (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
Pablo Picasso is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture and the co-invention of collage. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
Picasso had mistresses throughout his whole life even while he was married or living with someone. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
One of Picasso’s most famous pieces is 'Guernica' which is his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. When asked to explain this famous piece, Picasso said, “It isn’t up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them.” IN PIC: Guernica, Picasso's most famous work. (Photo | AP)
It is estimated that Picasso produced 50,000 pieces of art which include paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, prints, tapestries and rugs. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
Several paintings by Picasso rank among the most expensive paintings in the world. In US currency, Garçon à la pipe sold for $104 million in 2004; Dora Maar au Chat sold for $95.2 million in 2006; Nude, Green Leaves and Bust was sold at $106.5 million in 2010; the 1932 work, which depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter reclining and as a bust along with the rest of a personal collection was valued at over $150 million in 2010. (Photo | Wikimedia commons)
