Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso stands as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, forever changing the course of modern art. Born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881, he showed extraordinary talent from childhood. His father, an art teacher, gave him his first drawing lessons at age seven. By 1895, the young Picasso passed the entrance exam for Barcelona’s prestigious Academy of Arts in just one week—a test designed to take a month.
After early exhibitions in Barcelona, Picasso made his first trip to Paris in 1900 and permanently settled there in 1904. He co-founded the revolutionary Cubist movement with Georges Braque, a collaboration that lasted into the 1920s. His 1907 painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” essentially changed the direction of modern art. Throughout his career, Picasso worked in multiple styles—from his somber Blue Period to the brighter Rose Period, African-influenced works, Cubism, neoclassicism, and Surrealism. In 1937, he created “Guernica,” arguably his most famous masterpiece, in response to the bombing of a Spanish town during the Spanish Civil War.
Picasso remained productive until his death on April 8, 1973 in Mougins, France at age 91. His prolific output included more than 26,000 cataloged works—paintings, drawings, sculptures, original lithographs, etchings, linoleum cuts, and ceramics. Park West Gallery is honored to represent this legendary artist’s work.