Pablo Ruiz Picasso

PABLO RUIZ PICASSO (Málaga, 1881–Mougins, 1973).
“La Celestina,” 1968.
Engraving.
Signed in pencil.
Measurements: 12 x 6 cm (print); 32 x 25.5 cm (paper); 48 x 41 cm (frame).

A co-founder of Cubism alongside Braque, Picasso began his artistic studies in Barcelona at the Provincial School of Fine Arts (1895). Just two years later, in 1897, Picasso held his first solo exhibition at the café “Els Quatre Gats.” Paris would become Pablo’s ultimate goal, and in 1900 he moved to the French capital for a brief period. Upon returning to Barcelona, he began working on a series of works that reflect the influences of all the artists he had met or whose work he had seen. He was like a sponge that absorbed everything but retained nothing; he was searching for a personal style. Between 1901 and 1907, the Blue Period and the Rose Period unfolded, characterized by the use of those colors and by their themes featuring sordid, isolated figures with expressions of sorrow and suffering. Painting in these early years of the 20th century was undergoing constant change, and Picasso could not remain on the sidelines. He then became interested in Cézanne, and drawing on Cézanne’s example, he developed a new pictorial style alongside his friend Braque: Cubism. But Picasso did not stop there, and in 1912 he began incorporating collage into his paintings; from that moment on, anything went, and imagination took hold of art. Picasso was the great revolutionary, and while all other painters were drawn to Cubism, he turned his attention to the classicism of Ingres. The Surrealist movement of 1925 did not catch him off guard, and although he did not participate openly, it served as a breaking point with his previous work, introducing into his art powerfully distorted figures that were not without rage and fury. Just as with Goya, Picasso was also greatly influenced by his personal and social circumstances in his work. His relationships with women—often tumultuous—would seriously affect his art. However, what had the greatest impact on Picasso was the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the bombing of Guernica, which led to the creation of the most famous work in contemporary art. Paris was his refuge for a long time, but he spent the last years of his life in the south of France, working in a highly personal style characterized by vivid colors and strange shapes. Picasso’s works are featured in the world’s most important museums, such as the Metropolitan, the MoMA, and the Guggenheim in New York; the Hermitage in St. Petersburg; the National Gallery in London; and the Reina Sofía.