Spanish | Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Post-Impressionism

b. 1881

Pablo Picasso was the most dominant and influential artist of the first half of the 20th century. Associated most of all with pioneering Cubism, alongside Georges Braque, he also invented collage and made major contributions to Symbolism and Surrealism.

Throughout the long course of his career, he created more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and other items such as costumes and theater sets. His work has been divided by periods of time in which he would fully develop complex themes and feelings. His own original style was first formed during the so-called "Blue period" (1901-1904) when he used only shades of blue to depict lonely, melancholic figures. The characters of the "Rose period" (1904-1906) were mainly circus actors.

The depiction of five nude female figures in his painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) in the form of sharp, fragmentary, geometric forms irrevocably changed the entire course of the development of art. Thirty years later, the artist created Guernica, an open condemnation of fascism and war.

Picasso died in April 1973.

His truly unique, internally evolving work has received worldwide recognition. To this day, his work has generated mixed reactions, but the fact that he mastered chaos and defied accepted rules makes him the greatest rebel and father of modern art.