Before 1900 |left Picasso's training under his father began before 1890. His progress can be traced in the collection of early works now held by the
Museu Picasso in
Barcelona, which provides one of the most comprehensive extant records of any major artist's beginnings.
Blue Period: 1901–1904 Picasso's Blue Period (1901–1904), characterized by sombre paintings rendered in shades of blue and blue-green only occasionally warmed by other colours, began either in Spain in early 1901 or in Paris in the second half of the year. Between 1915 and 1917, Picasso began a series of paintings depicting highly geometric and minimalist Cubist objects, consisting of either a pipe, a guitar or a glass, with an occasional element of collage. "Hard-edged square-cut diamonds", notes art historian
John Richardson, "these gems do not always have upside or downside". In the summer of 1918, Picasso married
Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina with Sergei Diaghilev's troupe, for whom Picasso was designing a ballet, Erik Satie's
Parade, in Rome; they spent their honeymoon near
Biarritz in the villa of glamorous Chilean art patron
Eugenia Errázuriz. File:Pablo Picasso, 1909, Femme assise (Sitzende Frau), oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie.jpg|1909,
Femme assise (Sitzende Frau), oil on canvas, 100 × 80 cm (39 × 31 in),
Staatliche Museen,
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin File:Pablo Picasso, 1909-10, Figure dans un Fauteuil (Seated Nude, Femme nue assise), oil on canvas, 92.1 x 73 cm, Tate Modern, London.jpg|1909–10,
Figure dans un Fauteuil (Seated Nude, Femme nue assise), oil on canvas, 92.1 × 73 cm (36 × 28 in),
Tate Modern, London. This painting from the collection of
Wilhelm Uhde was confiscated by the French state and sold at the
Hôtel Drouot in 1921. File:Pablo Picasso, 1910, Woman with Mustard Pot (La Femme au pot de moutarde), oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Exhibited at the Armory Show, New York, Chicago, Boston 1913.jpg|1910,
Woman with Mustard Pot (La Femme au pot de moutarde), oil on canvas, 73 × 60 cm (28 × 23 in), Gemeentemuseum, The Hague. Exhibited at the Armory Show, New York, Chicago, Boston 1913 File:Pablo Picasso, 1910, Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier), oil on canvas, 100.3 x 73.6 cm, Museum of Modern Art New York..jpg|1910,
Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier), oil on canvas, 100.3 × 73.6 cm (39 × 28 in),
Museum of Modern Art, New York File:Picasso Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler 1910.jpg|1910,
Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler,
The Art Institute of Chicago. Picasso wrote of Kahnweiler "What would have become of us if Kahnweiler hadn't had a business sense?" File:Pablo Picasso, 1910-11, Guitariste, La mandoliniste, Woman playing guitar, oil on canvas.jpg|1910–11,
Guitariste, La mandoliniste (Woman playing guitar or mandolin), oil on canvas File:Pablo Picasso, c.1911, Le Guitariste.jpg|,
Le Guitariste. Reproduced in
Albert Gleizes and
Jean Metzinger,
Du "Cubisme", 1912 File:Pablo Picasso, 1911, Still Life with a Bottle of Rum, oil on canvas, 61.3 x 50.5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.jpg|1911,
Still Life with a Bottle of Rum, oil on canvas, 61.3 × 50.5 cm (24 × 19 in),
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York File:Pablo Picasso, 1911, The Poet (Le poète), Céret, oil on linen, 131.2 × 89.5 cm, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice.jpg|1911,
The Poet (Le poète), oil on linen, 131.2 × 89.5 cm (51 5/8 × 35 1/4 in), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice File:Pablo Picasso, 1911-12, Violon (Violin), oil on canvas, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands.jpg|1911–12,
Violon (Violin), oil on canvas, 100 × 73 cm (39 × 28 in) (oval), Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands. This painting from the collection of
Wilhelm Uhde was confiscated by the French state and sold at the
Hôtel Drouot in 1921. File:Pablo Picasso, 1913, Bouteille, clarinette, violon, journal, verre.jpg|1913,
Bouteille, clarinet, violon, journal, verre, 55 × 45 cm (21 × 17 in). This painting from the collection of
Wilhelm Uhde was confiscated by the French state and sold at the Hôtel Drouot in 1921. File:Pablo Picasso, 1913-14, Woman in a Chemise in an Armchair, oil on canvas, 149.9 x 99.4 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|1913,
Femme assise dans un fauteuil (Eva), Woman in a Chemise in an Armchair, oil on canvas, 149.9 × 99.4 cm (59 × 39 in), Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection,
Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Pablo Picasso, 1913-14, Head (Tête), cut and pasted colored paper, gouache and charcoal on paperboard, 43.5 x 33 cm, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.jpg|1913–14,
Head (Tête), cut and pasted coloured paper, gouache and charcoal on paperboard, 43.5 × 33 cm (17 × 12.9 in),
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh File:Pablo Picasso, 1913-14, L'Homme aux cartes (Card Player), oil on canvas, 108 x 89.5 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York.jpg|1913–14, ''L'Homme aux cartes (Card Player)'', oil on canvas, 108 × 89.5 cm (42 × 35 in),
Museum of Modern Art, New York File:Pablo Picasso, 1914-15, Nature morte au compotier (Still Life with Compote and Glass), oil on canvas, 63.5 x 78.7 cm (25 x 31 in), Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.jpg|1914–15,
Nature morte au compotier (Still Life with Compote and Glass), oil on canvas, 63.5 × 78.7 cm (25 × 31 in),
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio File:Pablo Picasso, 1916, L'anis del mono (Bottle of Anis del Mono) oil on canvas, 46 x 54.6 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan.jpg|1916, ''L'anis del mono (Bottle of Anis del Mono)'', oil on canvas, 46 × 54.6 cm (18 × 21 in),
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan File:Parade Picasso.jpg|
Parade, 1917, curtain designed for the ballet
Parade. The work is the largest of Picasso's paintings.
Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France, May 2012
Neoclassicism and surrealism: 1919–1929 In February 1917, Picasso made his first trip to Italy. In 1925 the
Surrealist writer and poet
André Breton declared Picasso as "one of ours" in his article
Le Surréalisme et la peinture, published in
Révolution surréaliste.
Les Demoiselles was reproduced for the first time in Europe in the same issue. Yet Picasso exhibited Cubist works at the first Surrealist group exhibition in 1925; the concept of "psychic automatism in its pure state" defined in the
Manifeste du surréalisme never appealed to him entirely. He did at the time develop new imagery and formal syntax for expressing himself emotionally, "releasing the violence, the psychic fears and the eroticism that had been largely contained or sublimated since 1909", writes art historian Melissa McQuillan. Although this transition in Picasso's work was informed by Cubism for its spatial relations, "the fusion of ritual and abandon in the imagery recalls the primitivism of the Demoiselles and the elusive psychological resonances of his Symbolist work", writes McQuillan. Surrealism revived Picasso's attraction to primitivism and eroticism. She became his "Golden muse," and he fathered a daughter with her, named Maya. File:Pablo Picasso, 1918, Pierrot, oil on canvas, 92.7 x 73 cm, Museum of Modern Art.jpg|Pablo Picasso, 1918,
Pierrot, oil on canvas, 92.7 × 73 cm,
Museum of Modern Art, New York File:Pablo Picasso, 1917-18, Portrait d'Olga dans un fauteuil (Olga in an Armchair), oil on canvas, 130 x 88.8 cm, Musée Picasso, Paris, France.jpg|Pablo Picasso, 1918, ''Portrait d'Olga dans un fauteuil (Olga in an Armchair)'',
Musée Picasso, Paris, France File:Pablo Picasso, 1919, Sleeping Peasants, gouache, watercolor and pencil on paper, 31.1 x 48.9 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York.jpg|Pablo Picasso, 1919,
Sleeping Peasants, gouache, watercolour and pencil on paper, 31.1 × 48.9 cm,
Museum of Modern Art The Great Depression, Guernica, and the MoMA exhibition: 1930–1939 During the 1930s, the
minotaur replaced the
harlequin as a common motif in his work. His use of the minotaur came partly from his contact with the surrealists, who often used it as their symbol, and it appears in Picasso's
Guernica. The minotaur and Picasso's mistress
Marie-Thérèse Walter are heavily featured in his celebrated
Vollard Suite of etchings. Before
Guernica, Picasso had never addressed political themes in his art. The politicized nature of the work is largely attributed to his romantic relationship at the time with the French anti-fascist activist and
surrealist photographer,
Dora Maar. In addition, her black and white photographs are likely to have influenced the black and white scheme of
Guernica, in stark contrast to Picasso's usual colorful paintings. "Maar's practice of photography influenced the art of Picasso – she had a great influence on his work," said Antoine Romand, a Dora Maar expert. "She contested him. She pushed him to do something new and to be more creative politically." At Picasso's request, Maar painted parts of the dying horse. During
World War II, Picasso remained in Paris while the Germans occupied the city. Picasso's artistic style did not fit the
Nazi ideal of art, so he did not exhibit during this time. He confused Germans who came to steal both his and Matisse's paintings from a bank vault, disparaging the value of his work and distracting them from a more thorough search, thus protecting their collections. He was often harassed by the
Gestapo. During one search of his apartment, an officer saw a photograph of the painting
Guernica. "Did you do that?" the German asked Picasso. "No," he replied, "You did." In addition to his artistic accomplishments, Picasso made a few film appearances, always as himself, including a cameo in
Jean Cocteau's
Testament of Orpheus (1960). In 1955, he helped make the film
Le Mystère Picasso (
The Mystery of Picasso) directed by
Henri-Georges Clouzot. He was commissioned to make a
maquette for a huge
public sculpture to be built in Chicago, known usually as the
Chicago Picasso. He approached the project with a great deal of enthusiasm, designing a sculpture which was ambiguous and somewhat controversial. Picasso said the figure represented the head of an
Afghan Hound named Kabul. The sculpture, one of the most recognizable landmarks in downtown Chicago, was unveiled in 1967. Picasso refused to be paid $100,000 for it, donating it to the people of the city. Picasso's final works were a mixture of styles, his means of expression in constant flux until the end of his life. Devoting his full energies to his work, Picasso became more daring, his works more colourful and expressive, and from 1968 to 1971 he produced a torrent of paintings and hundreds of copperplate etchings. At the time these works were dismissed by most as pornographic fantasies of an impotent old man or the slapdash works of an artist who was past his prime. The canvases, according to Paul Puaux, the festival director who had visited Picasso at his home, represented the artist's work from October 1970 until the end of 1972. ==Death==