Pablo Picasso

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During 1917, Picasso met Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova. In the spring, Sergei Diaghilev, head of the well-known “Russian Ballet” company, invited Picasso to draw at his production. Picasso followed Diaghilev’s performances, mainly because of his attraction to Olga. However, Olga was not interested in Picasso or his paintings–she found them to be strange, not recognizing herself in them. Eventually, “Russian Ballet” was to continue in Latin America. Instead of continuing her life as a ballerina, Olga stayed back with Picasso to marry him. They bought a house in Paris, where Picasso continued creating art–Olga often being the subject of his portraits. Although his friends disagreed with his will to marry Olga, he went through with it on July 12, 1918. Three years later, the couple had a son. This event excited Picasso, inspiring work containing his wife and child. Although this was a happy time in their life, it didn’t completely fix the problems within their marriage. Picasso and Olga enjoyed living the high-class lifestyle for a while, but eventually, Picasso lost interest and returned to creating art with limited social contact to others. With this mindset, Picasso moved on to a young seventeen year old girl. Picasso said, “Every time I change a woman I have to burn the one that was the last. So I get rid of them. They will no longer be around me and to complicate my life.” With that, he met with lawyers to divide their property, and left her. Due to circumstances, he did not officially divorce Olga, and was technically married to her until her death. Picasso stuck to his word about keeping past women away from him, and did not attend her funeral in 1955.

During the time of Picasso’s marriage with Olga, he entered a new period–the Classicist Period. This type of art was objective and imitated classical art. Picasso’s Classicist pieces can be found beginning around 1918, when he began painting portraits of the ballet. In 1928, Picasso began to move away from tradition; he became involved with Surrealism. This type of art was based on the views of Sigmund Freud, often abstract and symbolic. The popularity increased, inspiring Picasso to become heavily involved with it. With this focus in the Surrealism Period, Picasso introduced a new motif in his pieces: the minotaur. This idea was a common symbol for the surrealists, and can be found in one of Picasso’s most famous pieces, Guernica. This piece represented many of the negative aspects of war, and was interpreted variously among the public.

Around 1944, Picasso began to publicly express his political views; he joined both the Communist Party and the Peace Movement. During this time, he created the symbol–a dove–for the Paris World Peace Conference, and was awarded the International Stalin Peace Prize twice. Furthering his involvement in the movement, Picasso participated in many protests. Although he was open about his political stance, Picasso became private as an artist. Over the course of the winter in 1953, he created a series of circus portraits, totaling one hundred eighty pieces. Today, this is considered his “late work.”

Eventually, Picasso settled in southern France. He began creating work completely unlike anything he had done before, including sculptures and murals. Picasso’s art only continued to become more expressive than ever before; from incomplete shapes to unusual colors, these final paintings played an important role in art history. From age eighty-eight to ninety-two, Picasso did nothing but paint–the last four years of his life captured precisely with his brushes. On April 8, 1973, Picasso passed away.

Each period of Picasso’s art played a significant role in shaping art as we know it today. Working from a young age up until his death, Pablo Picasso introduced new techniques, influenced artists and movements, and still continues to inspire people of all ages today.

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Works Cited

- “Biography.” Http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

- “Classicism and Surrealism Period.” Pablopicasso.org. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

- Douma, Michael. “Color Vision & Art.” WebExhibits. Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement, Washington, DC. 2006. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

- Fox, A. “Picasso: The Women Behind the Artist.” FAMSF. N.p., 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

5. “Pablo Picasso's Cubism Period” Pablopicasso.org. N.p., 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

6. “Pablo Picasso's Early Life - Before 1901.” Pablopicasso.org. N.p., 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

7. “Picasso’s African-Influenced Period.“ Pablopicasso.org. N.p., 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

8. Rewald, Sabine. "Cubism." The Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.p., Oct. 2004. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

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