Pablo Picasso: A Self-Taught Luminary in 20th Century Art

Pablo Picasso is the worlds most renowned artist of the 20th century. He did a variety of skills related to the world of art. Most people remember him as just a painter, but he was more than that. He could do sculpting, drawing, engraving, lithographs, and more. One of his most famous periods of all time, The Blue Period showed all that he was capable of. More than the paintings above all else he learned all his abilities self-taught from his father and the schooling his father helped provide.

Born in 1881, the son of Jose Ruiz Blaso and Maria Picasso Lopez. Young Picasso at the start of age 7 had lessons involving art from his father. His father taught figure drawing and oil painting to him at that point. Pablo started his first oil paintings as portraits of his family eventually doing caricatures of villagers. By 13 he was working on his own oil paintings. In 1895 he lost his younger sister to diphtheria. (Pablo Picasso's Early Life - Before 1901).

The Blue Period has been named after the color in which Picasso focused on for this time. From 1901-1904 his paintings had the same downhearted variety. During this period one of Picasso’s close friends committed suicide, Carlos Casagemas. The affects of his loss are truly shown during this period through his paintings. (Carsten, Walther and Gmbh) . One of

From 1904-1906 Picasso used “rosey” colors to convey his work. During this period, he meets his one-day model, Fernande Olivier. She would eventually become his mistress and thus encouraging the start of The Rose Period. He focused his work on harlequins, circus’s, and street performers. More often then not he showed them, not doing acts but on the side alone. (Fox). The majority of colors used were of pinks and oranges. This is the start of his use of primitivism in work. Primitivism is an expression of unsophistication,