Pablo Picasso and the Universe of Art

Abstract

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) is regarded as the most influential artist of the 20th century. One key feature of his oeuvre is that he effortlessly crossed techniques, styles, and disciplines of art (1, 2). Another is that he appropriated styles and templates of both past and contemporary artists, creating works that “conversed” with them (3). Picasso created paintings and sculptures, used a wide range of printing techniques, made posters, and in the 1940s revived the production of pottery in the village of Vallauris in Provence. His earliest paintings were conventionally academic, albeit perfectly executed. For a short time he studied in Madrid, where he became acquainted with the works of Velazquez and El Greco in the Prado museum. Later, in Barcelona, he was exposed to modernism. In Paris, where he settled in 1904, he admired not only Delacroix and Ingres but also contemporary artists, including Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, and Degas. The Fauves exhibition in 1905, and the work of Matisse, made a particular impression on him. At the time, he produced several Expressionist paintings, such as The Absinthe Drinker (Melville Hall Collection, New York) (4). The Blue Period paintings, created in 1901–1904, were figurative and monochromatic. The Pink Period (1904–1906) coincided …