Pablo Picasso Biography for Kids
Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain.
When he was baptized, he was named after various saints and relatives: Pablo
Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de
la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito
Ruíz y Picasso. His father, Jose Ruiz Blasco, was an artist and art professor
who gave Pablo art lessons. His mother was Maria Picasso y Lopez. According to
his mother, his first word was “piz” when he was trying to say “lápiz,” the
Spanish word for pencil.
Picasso was not
a good student. He often had to go to detention. Here’s what he said about it.
“For being a bad student I was banished to the ‘calaboose’ – a bare cell with
whitewashed walls and a bench to sit on. I liked it there, because I took along
a sketch pad and drew incessantly … I could
have stayed there forever drawing without stopping ”
When he was
nine, Picasso finished his first painting, Le picador. It shows a man on a
horse at a bullfight. When he started painting, he used a realistic style. He
began to experiment with different techniques and styles. When he was 13, he
was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona,
Spain. When he
was 16, Picasso’s father and uncle decided to send him to Madrid’s
Royal Academy
of San Fernando.
This was Spain’s
top art school. He did not like formal instruction and soon stopped going to
classes. He loved Madrid
and enjoyed going to The Prado museum to see paintings by famous Spanish
painters. He particularly like El Greco’s work.
In 1900,
Picasso went to Paris.
He met Max Jacob, a journalist and poet. Max helped Picasso learn to speak
French. He also met many of the famous artists who lived in Paris. In 1905, American art collectors Leo
and Gertrude Stein began to collect his work and helped to make him famous.
He and
Georges Braque invented Cubism, a form of painting that featured simple
geometric shapes. He is also known for making collages – gluing previously
unrelated things together with images. He created oil paintings, sculpture,
drawings, stage designs, tapestries, rugs, etchings, collage, and architecture.
No other painter or sculptor was as famous while he was still alive. It is
estimated that Picasso produced at least 50,000 works of art: 1,885 paintings;
1,228 sculptures; 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of
prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs. He also wrote plays and poetry. He
became very wealthy.
Some of his
famous paintings include: The Old Guitarist; Asleep and Seated Woman, which
portray Marie-Therese Walter, one of the women he loved; Guernica, a mural about the Spanish Civil
War; and Three Musicians.
Picasso loved
many women. He married two of them, Olga Khokhlova and Jacqueline Roque. He had
four children: Paulo, Maya, Claude and Paloma, who is famous for her jewelry
designs. He died April 8, 1973 in Mougins,
France.
Picasso
quotes:
“I paint
objects as I think them, not as I see them. ”
“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows
up. ”
“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an
inexorable, indisputable law. ”
“Action is the foundational key to
all success.”