Pablo Picasso

Who is Pablo Picasso?

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker and ceramicist who spent most of his adult life in France and is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Born in Málaga, he was a child prodigy trained by his father, an art teacher. Picasso co-founded the Cubist movement with Georges Braque, fundamentally reshaping European painting and sculpture by fragmenting objects into geometric planes and multiple viewpoints. His career passed through distinct phases, including the melancholy Blue Period and the warmer Rose Period. Among his best-known works are 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' (1907), a radical break with tradition, and 'Guernica' (1937), a monumental mural denouncing the bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War, which became an enduring anti-war symbol. Extraordinarily prolific across many media, Picasso produced tens of thousands of works over more than seven decades and died in Mougins, France, in 1973.

Sources: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Museum of Modern Art, New York · Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid