Pablo Picasso: Landmark Achievements
1901-1918
Picasso started his painting with the poor and downtrodden of the society as his subject and he painted them in predominantly blue shades. The Blue Period of his art covered the time 1901 to 1904. The mood changed to color and cheer in his Rose Period painting covering the time 1904-05 when his works showed circus performers mainly in shades of red and pink. An example is his 1905 painting titled ‘Family of Saltimbanques’. His conceiving human face as a mask was demonstrated in his 1906 portrait of his friend and American writer Gertrude Stein. Representation of object not in natural form but in perceived shape was the essence of cubism which was seen for the first time in Picasso’s 1907 painting titled ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ which broke tradition to depict dismantled composition of human form. Cubism revolutionized art and laid foundation for modern art. Analytic cubism was gradually developed over the period 1908-11 by Picasso and French artist Georges Braque working together. Picasso lived in Rome through World War I from 1914 to 1918 and concentrated on designing of stages for theatre and ballet.
1925-1950
While continuing with cubist form of art since 1907, Picasso took a break to experiment in classical form with his 1925 painting ‘Three Dancers’. In 1937 was painted ‘Guernica’ in surrealistic style depicting the brutality of war in condemnation of the Spanish Civil War. Picasso was moved by the death and destruction caused by World War II and he focused on death as his theme in the works done during the period 1939-42. One famous painting was ‘Still Life with Steer’s Skull (1942). Picasso made the famous sculpture ‘She-Goat’ in 1950 which was one of his numerous sculptural works of later period.
Little Known Landmarks
Some religious pictures were painted by Picasso at the tender age of 14 which was never sold. Although hardly ever having any political affiliation, he became a member of the French Communist Party in 1947 and was awarded Lenin Peace Prize in 1950.
