Pablo Picasso: Influential Artist Of The 20th Century

Kari Mathes
Art 101
Professor Plourde
Pablo Picasso Born October, 25th 1881 in Malaga Spain, Pablo Picasso became one of the most well-known and influential artists of the 20th century. His father, Don Jose Ruiz Blasco, was an art teacher and a painter. From an early age he showed interest in art and loved to doodle. According to biography.com by the time Pablo was “13 years old his paintings were already better executed than his father 's.” In his lifetime Picasso was known for being a womanizer in his personal life and a visionary in the art world. Picasso’s artwork can be broken down into individual periods, the first of which is his blue period which was from 1901-1904. It is called the blue period because this is the color that is most used in his paintings at that time. In his artwork during this period it is obvious he was deeply depressed. Just by looking at the paintings you
can see that none of the people depicted are happy. They all seem to have somber faces and lack of light behind their eyes.
Looking at his painting “Old Jew and a Boy (Blind Beggar with a boy)” is a perfect example of the somber paintings during the blue period. Although he uses mainly one color he stays mostly on the same hue, using a blue and blue violet. The darker colors and lack of light give it more of a monochromatic color scheme, which is used to represent a mood. If he had added a little lighter colors or showed the sun shining on the pair it may have made this painting a little more upbeat, however that was not Picasso’s intent. The design he gave this piece showed balance and unity. The blue background shows his use of subordination, or a neutral area to keep our focus on the man and the boy.
After battling his depression and his rose period Picasson began on a new adventure one that would change the direction of his paintings. “In 1907, Picasso produced a painting unlike anything he or anyone else had ever painted before, a work that would deeply influence the direction of art in the twentieth century: Les Demoiselles d 'Avignon.” (biography.com) This piece is what many believe to be the beginning of Cubism, a style that was established by Picasso and Georges Braque. In this painting we can see that the content is a bit shocking. From the deformity of their faces down to the overtly sexual poses, it portrays these prostitutes in a harsh light. Picasso used cubism as a form of dimension, making his two-dimensional piece stand out as almost being three-dimensional. The contrast he uses in color, making the faces darker than the rest of the bodies, shows the evil behind the brothel of woman. It is almost as if he stained their faces because he could not show a darkened heart. He has also given this piece rhythm, allowing each shape of the woman to feel as though they have movement.
Picasso’s would return to his darker more somber paintings during World War 1. This would be known as his Classical Period. It’s no wonder why he got dark again. The fate of the world is unknown. It was a scary time for everyone. It started with the assassination of Archduke of Ferdinand in 1914 but did not end there. The War would continue to rage on for another 5 years.
One of Picasso’s pieces from this time gives a glimpse into his personal life with a painting of his wife at the time Portrait de Olga Kokhlova. Although this is a woman he loved at the time he paints her very dark. He uses the light to reflect on one side of her face drawing your eye to that side then over to the darker side. The way he uses the light in the picture also enhances one side of her face giving it the illusion one side is larger than the other. Although her face looks to be a little of center it is actually symmetrical. If you draw a line down the center of the piece her face is evenly on one side. He uses contrasting colors, yellow, orange black and brown, to accent and highlight certain parts of this piece. Her hair is highlighted with bits of orange in contrast to the dark browns and blacks showing the light shining off of her hair. All though this might not be one of the most famous paintings during WW1 it certainly does allow you to see how he valued woman. This could have been a very jovial painting, happy and showing her beauty. However, this shows her in a darker light, although still beautiful.
Picasso continued to paint and work his way up the social latter during WW1. After WW1 he returned briefly to realism but later was sucked into Surrealism. This was a manifestation of his Cubism. He would then begin to paint more political pieces as ww2 began.
On a Monday morning in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the town of Guernica was heading out to the town square for the regular Monday fair. Without warning German fighter planes began to bomb the town. “For over three hours, twenty-five or more of Germany 's best-equipped bombers, accompanied by at least twenty more Messerschmitt and Fiat Fighters, dumped one hundred thousand pounds of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on the village, slowly and systematically pounding it to rubble.” (pbs.org) Many hid in shelters and those that tried to run for safety were shot down by the fighter planes machine guns.
At the time of the bombings Picasso was asked to paint a mural for the Paris Exhibition.
Outraged by this massacre in his home country he chose to take a political stance and painted Guernica, another perfect example of his cubism as well as surrealism. The contrast in colors, the light on dark, gives the piece a very dismal disposition. The content of the piece just shows how horrific the bombings were. The dismembered bodies along with the demonic creatures make this almost scary look at. The pattern that this piece has helps unify it. What could look like a mangled mess actually comes together with the lines breaking the piece up. Picasso also gave this painting a very good directional force. They eye is drawn to the lighter part of the painting, or the right side, to the left. This feels as though you can see the massacre as it is happening. You start with a person who looks to be in shock, on the right, and looking over at what is going on, then end with a mangled mess and a one eyed bull on the other. The tone of this painting is very blunt with the techniques he
used.
Pablo Picasso was known for many different styles. His blue period shows his depression, using mostly blue paints because that was all he could afford. As he began to come out of his depression he began his rose period, painting in rose and flesh colors. After the rose period he would usher in what would probably be what he was most famous for, Cubism.
Cubism could be broken up into 3 periods, beginnings of cubism, analytical cubism and synthetic cubism. Picasso was once ridiculed for this style but it would soon usher in a new begging. Artists began to look at this style as a new way to represent their old westernized art. Analytical cubism used specific shapes or pieces to represent a specific image. Due to the distortion of most analytical cubism pieces it can be difficult to tell what the figures are. The last of this period would be synthetic cubism. This was a manifestation of analytical cubism. This was more appealing to the people than analytical and can be a little easier to interpret.
Picasso would become one of the most influential artists of all time. His paintings and sketches resonate to people today, 40 years after his death. His pieces are often distorted and seem odd to look at. Maybe this was how Picasso viewed himself, broken and distorted. His life’s works would go on to influence artists of today and even famous artists of his time.

Works Cited
"Pablo Picasso." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Apr 30 2013, 03:24 http://www.biography.com/people/pablo-picasso-9440021.
Unknown. PBS. Publication. PBS. 30 Apr. 2013 .