10 Interesting Facts About Pablo Picasso

The 10 interesting facts about Pablo Picasso could be just about anything. A lot of people don’t know everything about the famous artist.

He was a genius from childhood

Having a father who was an artist no doubt helped. But at the age of 14, he was already making his mark in the world.

The Blue Period was inspired by a very real tragedy

A friend of Picasso’s died in 1901 after a gunshot wound. For months after he used primarily blue tones and subjects that were often poverty-stricken and emaciated.

The Rose Period had more to do with feelings of love

After three years of mourning his friend, he started painting in more vivid tones as floral backgrounds and lively depictions became the norm. His lift in mood is rumored to have come from his relationship with artist and model Fernande Olivier.

He had plenty of female inspiration

Picasso was married a couple of times, but between these relationships were other women who appeared in his work. But don’t get it twisted, he had a very black-and-white approach to women.

Much of his work was influenced by African art

This is interesting in its own way since after viewing African art styles he changed up his own style a bit. Because of this, he found the basis for cubism.

Cubism was a constant quest for him in an artistic sense

Thanks to the African influence and works of Paul Cezanne, he turned the human form into a geometric design of sorts. But instead of sticking with one type, he created several.

There are 58 versions of Diego Valazquez’s Las Meninas

At one point in his career, Picasso was obsessed with the paintings of Old Masters. But to make 58 versions of a single painting…oy.

Guernica still stands out as one of the art world’s enduring symbols of war.

The Nazi bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War inspired Picasso to come up with this image. The UN even had a tapestry version created.

He liked being around Surrealists

Back in the 1920s, Pablo Picasso went back to his realist roots and entered a new phase of painting, Neo-Classical. This was when sex and the subconscious really started to take root in his work.

He really liked making pots

He didn’t focus primarily on painting even though it made him famous. he did take up pottery as a relaxing hobby, but he ended up making nearly three thousand pieces.