Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Sleeping, 1967

Born in Málaga in 1881, Pablo Picasso's father was an illustrator and it was he who gave him his first workshops and discovered his talent. At the age of fourteen, Pablo entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of St. Ferdinand. He also soon found himself in Paris becoming a member of the French bohemian art scene. He then stayed in Italy during the hostilities of the First War, while he spent the 1930s in Spain, among other places. Picasso lived the first half of his forties in Paris, becoming a communist there to live out his years, near Cannes, in the south of France. He was the creator of such unforgettable works as his "Longchamp," for example, an expression of forms combined with bright colors. Next was Picasso's blue period, in which blue was intended to convey feelings of sympathy, sadness or emotion. It is probably enough here to mention his work entitled "The Call. The Funeral of Casagemas" from 1901, or the painting "The Old Guitarist," committed in 1903. Later came his pink period and, for example, the painting "The Harlequin Family." However, this time also passed for the new - Picasso was experiencing the world, as it were, anew, and therefore his pre-Cubist period, hence works such as "Portrait of Kahnweiler", "Harlequin" from 1915. This was by no means the end of the evolution. Indeed, he experienced a relapse into classicism as seen in the work "Women at the Fountain." Finally came his pre-war surrealism evident in "The Dance" and "The Red Armchair." Paintings, on the other hand, such as "Massacre in Korea" from 1951 and "War and Peace" are from the post-war period. Some even see mannerism in his work at that time. Note the reinterpretations of Velaswuez's work "Las meninas" and the famous work "Breakfast in the Grass." Meanwhile, Picasso was besides engaged in making art ceramics, with which he marked his last creative period. He died on April 8, 1973 in Mougins. During his life, Pablo Picasso was in seven prolonged relationships. He had four children: Paul (with Olga Kokhlova, his first wife), Maya (with Maria Teresa Walter), Claude and Paloma (with Francoise Gilot, his second wife). (Source: www.zyciorysy.info)