Pablo Picasso

Last week Henry's teacher Miss H had sent him the task of doing art in the style of Pablo Picasso. Today Mum decided that we would all have a go at doing art in his style and that our blog today could be about this famous artist.

• Occupation: Artist
• Born: October 25, 1881 in Málaga, Spain
• Died: April 8, 1973 in Mougins, France
• Famous works: The Pipes of Pan, Three Musicians, Guernica, The Weeping Woman
• Style/Period: Cubism, Modern Art, Surrealism

Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, famous for his paintings like 'Guernica' and for the art movement known as Cubism. 

Picasso was interested in art from an early stage and his father, who was also an artist, found him to be an attentive pupil. Don José Ruiz y Blasco began schooling his son in drawing and oil painting when the boy was seven.

At the age of 13 he began to attend the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where his father was also a teacher. n 1897, Picasso began his studies at Madrid's Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, which was Spain's top art academy at the time. Picasso attended only briefly, preferring to roam art exhibits as he was bored with the classic teachings of art school. He didn't want to paint like people hundreds of years ago. He wanted to create something new.

Pablo Picasso's art work was often affected by how he was feeling at the time. At one point he painted in mainly blues as he was very sad that his friend had died. A few years later he used lots of pinks and warm colours as he was in love. 

In 1907 Picasso began to experiment with a new style of painting. He worked with another artist named Georges Braque. By 1909 they had created a completely new style of painting called Cubism. In Cubism the subjects are analyzed and broken up into different sections. Then the sections are put back together and painted from different perspectives and angles. Go here to see an example of Picasso's Cubism art.

In 1912 Picasso began to combine Cubism and collage. This was where he would use sand or plaster in his paint to give it texture. He would also apply materials such as coloured paper, newspapers, and wallpaper to his paintings to give them added dimension.

It wasn't until 1924 that Picasso started to experiment with Surrealism.  Surrealist paintings weren't supposed to make any sense. They often appear like something you would see in a dream or a nightmare. Although Picasso didn't become a member of the movement, he did incorporate some of their ideas into his paintings. (It's Surrealism that we have been experimenting with today!)

Today, Pablo Picasso is considered the greatest artist of the 20th century. Many people consider him to be one of the greatest in all of art history. He painted in a number of different styles and created many unique contributions to the world of art. Near the end of his life he painted a number of self portraits. One of his last works of art was a self portrait done with crayon on paper entitled Self-Portrait Facing Death. He died a year later at the age of 91 on April 8, 1973.

Interesting Facts about Pablo Picasso

• His full name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. Wow!
• His mother once told him when he was a child that "If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope."
• In the 1930s Picasso became fascinated with the mythical creature the Minotaur. This creature had the body of a man and the head of a bull. It appeared in many of his pieces of art.
• He produced over 1,800 paintings and 1,200 sculptures.
• Many of his paintings have been sold for over $100 million!
• He was married twice and had four children.

Our Art

Here is our attempts at creating in the style of Picasso.

Ella:  I found doing the art fun but I don't like the  art style. I had to step out of my comfort zone to do it.

Theo: I don't really like the art style. I found it very tricky.

Henry: I liked doing the art. It was fun doing it with Mum, Theo and Ella.

Mum: I really enjoyed creating this nonsensical piece of art with the kids. As someone who can't draw very well it was fun to create something that didn't need to be perfect or make any sense.