Pablo Picasso: Fun Interesting Facts and Resources

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Pablo Picasso was a fascinating man, now known throughout the world for his talent and advances in abstract and cubist painting techniques. He lived a long life, and remained a frenzied painter until the day of his death at the age of 92. During his life, he made a name for himself and was a renowned and respected pioneer of abstract painting, sculpture and drawing. The following facts span the realm from relatively unknown to very well known and paint a portrait of Picasso as a man and as one of the most famous artists of all time.

1. Picasso’s full baptized name was significantly longer than the name he became known by

Picasso’s full name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso. His parents, Jose Ruiz y Blasco and Mario Picasso y Lopez named him after a handful of saints and family members. The name he chose to eventually be known by was a combination of his first name, and one of his mother’s last names.

2. Pablo Picasso was famous before his death, a rarity for an artist during that time

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 and lived until 1973. During his 92 years, he rose to immense fame and gained the respect of art communities around the world. The artist’s first word is said to have been the Spanish word for “pencil.” From there, he began painting and drawing, attending only one year of art school before dropping out and moving to Paris. In 1901, Picasso co-founded an art magazine and built his reputation through this magazine and many notable friends who began to collect his art. For the rest of his life, Picasso lived in France and continued to develop his talents through various mediums.

3. Picasso was married twice, but is known to have entertained dozens of mistresses and lovers

Pablo Picasso had dozens of lovers and mistresses during his 92 years. Seven of these women were known to have been extremely influential to the artist emotionally and professionally. Two of these seven women killed themselves. Two of them lost their minds and were institutionalized. From his first love, Fernande Olivier, to his last wife Jacqueline Roque, Picasso loved, used, painted and lost many women.

4. Picasso had four children, by three women

His first child, Paulo was born to his first wife Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina that Picasso met in Roma, Italy. They were married in 1918 and Paula was born three years later. While still married to Olga, Picasso lived part of the time across the street from his home with Marie-Therese Walter, who was only 17 at the time. Eight years after meeting, Picasso and Marie-Therese had a daughter, Maya (Maria de la Concepcion). Marie-Therese hung herself in 1977, a few short years after Picasso died. In 1943, Picasso fell in lost with Francoise Gilot, an art student 40 years younger than he. Together they had two children, Claude (in 1947) and Paloma (in 1949). Four years later Gilot left Picasso because of his abusiveness.

5. Picasso invented Cubism, along with Georges Braque

The two artists both began painting forms as compilations taken from different viewpoints. They did this independently of influence from each other, but when they found that they were both working on the same wavelength, they became friends and began to develop their new language together. Cubism, in addition to a new art style, was really the beginning of abstract art. This new style was the first time where context over form was reversed, and form took precedence over the actual context of the painting.

Picasso stopped painting in the cubist style around 1915 for the most part. Paintings after this time were simply known as “Picasso’s style.”

6. Best known for his paintings, Picasso was also experienced in sculpting, graphic art, ceramics and metalwork.

By the time of his death at the age of 92, Pablo Picasso had produced an estimated 50,000 works of art. These were not, however, all paintings. The artist experimented with other mediums including engravings, stage sets, illustrations, sculptures, ceramics, lithography, poetry and playwriting.

7. Picasso’s work is often classified into the Blue Period, the Rose Period, the African-influenced Period, the Analytic Cubist period and Synthetic Cubism

Picasso’s Blue Period took place from 1901 until 1904 and was characterized by melancholy paintings that were primarily in blue and related cool hues. The subject matters of these paintings were often mothers and children, prostitutes and homeless people.

The Rose Period followed the Blue Period and lasted from 1904 until 1906. Picasso primarily painted more lighthearted works during this time with orange and reddish pink hues. The most common subject matter during this time was circus performers and Fernande Olivier, the artist’s first love interest. The African Influenced Period last two years after the Rose Period, and served as a catalyst for Picasso’s Analytic Cubist Period, which followed in 1909.

From 1909 until 1912, Picasso developed his style of Cubist painting with Georges Braque. After 1912, Picasso entered his phase of Synthetic Cubism, which lasted until 1919. During this time, he often created collages with wallpaper or newspapers and pasted them onto canvases.

8. The city of Chicago displays a 50’ high sculpture in Daley Plaza downtown, called the Chicago Picasso

The sculpture was commissioned by the architects that designed the Richard J. Daley Center in the 1960s. Picasso completed a small mock-up of the sculpture two years later, and in another two years, the full-size steel sculpture had been completed by the American Bridge Company in Gary, Indiana. There has been much speculation into what the sculpture is supposed to represent. Some have said it looks like an aardvark or a baboon. Others believe it was inspired by a woman Picasso often painted at the time.

9. Picasso was believed to have been stillborn

When Mario Picasso Y Lopez gave birth to Pablo Picasso, she gave birth to an extremely weak infant boy. It was the night of October 25, 1881. The midwife delivered the tiny infant, who did not immediately breathe or cry out. She left the baby to tend to his mother. Pablo’s uncle, who was a medical doctor, was smoking a cigar at the time and exhaled a long plume of smoke into Picasso’s face. This made Picasso gasp for air and cry out, beginning his long and eventful life.

10. Guernica was one of Pablo Picasso’s most famous paintings and was created for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair.

Picasso was asked to create a masterpiece for the World’s Fair, but was having trouble with finding an inspiration for the piece. On April 27, 1937, a massacre takes place in a small village in northern Spain called Guernica. By the end of the tragedy, 1,600 civilians had been killed or wounded. When Picasso heard of this event and saw photographs of the destruction, he was immediately inspired and began to sketch ideas for his anti-war painting, which came to be known simply as, Guernica. The painting traveled around the world as a symbol of the atrocities of war. It now rests permanently at the Reina Sofia, Spain’s national museum of art.

Resources about Picasso

Picasso Website
website

List of Galleries and Museums with Picasso’s Work
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Picasso’s Website – France
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Resource by A.Evans

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