Pablo Picasso

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, shortly before midnight on October 25, 1881. His father, Don Jose Ruiz Blasco was thirty-one, and his mother Dona Maria Picasso y Lopez was twenty-six. According to Spanish tradition, Pablo was given the last names of his father, Ruiz, and his mother Picasso. Both of his parents were from Spain. His father, Don Jose, was an art teacher.As a child, Picasso was always more interested in painting than learning. In his earliest school days, many of Picasso’s teachers had learned not to put too much effort into reaching young Picasso. From the beginning, Picasso displayed the bohemian personality. He disliked receiving instruction. His father often had to compromise with Pablo. They made such deals that allowed for Picasso to take his pigeons with him to school if he would pay attention to the teacher. But rather than learn, Picasso painted the pigeons he admired.His father, an art instructor, soon recognized his son’s genuine potential for painting. His father encouraged his son to paint traditional elements such as nature and people. But Picasso would have nothing of this. Rather, he wanted to paint what intrigued him, and so he did. His father tried his hardest to maintain the boy’s rebellious nature, but throughout his childhood, Picasso would display a rebellious side that would become a trait perdenant to his character. During 1910 to 1914, Picasso and Georges Braque began to experiment with Cubism. Picasso’s reputation grew during this period, and he began to enjoy more success as his artwork fetched higher and higher prices. One thing is true about Picasso’s career—he tried everything. Picasso practiced Surrealism during the 1930’s; he tried primitive art, ceramics, sketches, and everything he could get his hands on. In 1937, when German planes bombed the Basque town of Guernica; Picasso painted one of his most controversial and historically appreciated paintings. The painting is hailed today as a representation of one of Picasso’s finest. During the 1950’s and 60’s, Picasso enjoyed tremendous success. He was regarded as a modern day Mozart, and a great man. In 1971, the Louvre put on a retrospective showing of his work. In the later years of his life, age had not brought Picasso down. He painted almost 200 works in the last two years of his life alone. Pablo Picasso died of heart failure in 1973 at the age of 93. Source: thinkquest.org