20th Century Genius

Every artist has his or her own style of painting. Each painting tells some sort of story or has some type of personal meaning to the artist. One of the most important figures in modern art is Pablo Picasso. Not only was Pablo Picasso a genius in the field of abstract art, but he also experimented with sculpting and ceramics. Pablo Picasso has taken the world to many places with his unique style of work which is why I believe he is considered to be a genius of the 20th century.

Background

Pablo Picasso, born Pablo Ruiz, was destined to become an artist at a very young age. Born in Malaga, Spain on October 15, 1881, the young artist began to follow in the footsteps of Jose Ruiz Blasco--his father. Many say that Picasso's love for art was somewhat genetic, since his father was also an aspiring painter. At the young age of four, Picasso had already learned to draw detailed pictures, and by the age of 15 had already become technically skilled in drawing and painting. While most of us were busy learning and playing during our school years, Picasso spent his class time drawing sketches of his classmates (Chew, 1995). Needless to say he was indeed one of the most creative students in his class, and it would only be a matter of time before he began to pursue art as a career.

By the age of 16, Picasso had more than mastered the techniques necessary to become a successful artist. Although, most teenagers his age were probably out mingling with their friends and studying for school, Picasso was busy at work trying to perfect his skills as an artist. While attending the Academy of fine arts in Barcelona, where his father was appointed professor in 1896, Picasso had his own studio (Lycos, 2004). By the age of 19, Picasso had visited Paris for the first time and decided to settle there to pursue his dream.

The Color Period's

Not many people can say that by the age of 20, they have found their true calling in life. However, Picasso made it evident that he was a gifted artist when he introduced the world to his own style of painting during what was known as "Picasso's Blue Period." The Blue Period marked a time in Picasso's career from 1901-1904 that defined the different real-life experiences that he had been exposed to throughout his life. It is rumored that Picasso's blue period began briefly after the death of a close friend, and the blue tones were used to reflect his feelings of bleakness during that time (GME, 1996). Most of his paintings during the blue period consisted of blind, impoverished, despaired people, and the paintings were done mostly in blue tones. One of the most famous pieces created during the period was called "The Old Guitarist," which depicts a saddened, blind, old man holding his guitar.

In 1905 after his blue period, Picasso's subject matter and color schemes that he used for his paintings began to change. From 1905-1906, Picasso developed the "Rose Period." Now instead of painting depressing figures with blue dull color tones, he began to paint circus people acrobats, and harlequin figures using pink and other earth tone colors (Gerten, n.d.). The rumor for this period is that Picasso began to brighten his colors and themes after he fell in love. A famous piece from his Rose period is called "Boy with Pipe." The painting features a young boy holding a pipe with a flower garland on his head. The painting definitely defines a happier period in Picasso's life when his paintings take on a more jovial look.

Cubism

Following the color phases which reflected his own personal style and his personal feelings, Picasso decided to take art to a new level and began an entire new art movement. After teaming up with fellow French artist Georges Braque in 1907, they worked together to form a whole new art movement known as "Analytical Cubism." The concept behind cubism is that instead of viewing subjects from a single, fixed angle, the artist breaks the painting into pieces so that several different aspects/faces of the subject can be seen simultaneously (www.artcyclopedia.com). When a person first views a piece of cubist art, it probably would resemble a collage, rather than an actual painting. However, Picasso wanted his viewer's to be able to study his paintings from different angles, and still be able to see the same picture from not matter where one was standing. To come up with this form of art as Picasso and Braque did is truly ingenius. Not only did they want people to view art from a different