Why Is Pablo Picasso Important

Quite possibly one of the most innovative and greatest artists of the past century, Pablo Picasso has certainly earned an important position in art history. Born in the city of Malaga on the southern coast of Spain on October 25, 1881, Picasso had a rather unprecedented start. Apparently as Picasso had told the story he was deemed a stillborn, as he had failed to breath, and was abandoned by the midwife. However, with an odd twist of fate his uncle—who was a doctor—was there at the time and had saved his life by blowing cigar smoke in his nose (Wertenbaker). After a short time he learned to draw, even before he could talk as according to his mother his first words were “piz, piz” for lapiz—the Spanish word for pencil—eventually explaining
Also starting at a young age, he had quickly mastered the basics by the time he was fourteen. Starting out with a style based off of his father’s Picasso learned to be realistic with his work. However, over time he started to change it going with a more expressive touch in his later teen years. Once he left Spain, at the age of nineteen, going back to Paris three times over that course of time, eventually settling on calling it home for the time being. By the time he reached twenty five he had honed his natural abilities into what would later be best known as his style. Around the years 1901 to 1904 Picasso went through what is now known as his Blue period. This period was brought on by the death of a close friend, Carles Casagemas, who shot himself. This horrifying death deeply affected Picasso. With his own personal issues combined he started to paint with his mood. During this period Picasso painted with “Melancholic, cold tones, predominantly blue” (Wertenbaker)—thus how the period got its name—to reflect his inner pain. In this time period he painted several paintings one of his first being Harlequin, which shared some similarities from one of his inspirations Vincent Van Gogh. However, during this time Picasso started to show more and more individuality, although he still shared and borrowed several ideas from other artist, making such works as The Old Guitarist which would be one of his most known works. Among his other works was The Absinthe Drinker an almost pure representation of his melancholy