Child prodigy, rule breaker, depressive visual genius: A look at the art of Pablo Picasso

By Daniella Millership

Hailed as one of greatest artistic influences of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso is known as both an inspirational and controversial artist. He pioneered styles and disciplines that simultaneously shocked, fascinated and heavily influenced the art world.

In many ways, Picasso’s path was destined for him. His father, an artist and art professor, noticed his son’s artistic abilities at a young age and nurtured his talent, training him in both painting and drawing. By the age of 13, Picasso had already surpassed his father’s skill level.

The body of work Picasso created throughout his life extends from early childhood until his death, providing a comprehensive record of his development as an artist. While many great artists of the world gained fame and recognition for mastering a specific discipline or style through their life’s work, Picasso earned prolific status with his ever-diversifying artworks, endlessly reinventing himself with an unprecedented variety of styles. This earned him enormous respect from artistic peers throughout his lifetime.

Picasso’s evolution as an artist is frequently split into different ‘periods’ that reflect both emotions in his personal life and outside world at the given time, adding an authentic feel that people found relatable. His work from earlier years, commonly known as the ‘Blue Period’, is seen as his most sombre. As he sank into a severe depression, his paintings often portrayed malnutrition and prostitution as well as beggars and drunks, dominated with essentially monochromatic shades of blue and blue-green that portrayed the personal poverty he was experiencing.

The ‘Rose Period’ between 1904–1906 contrasted the cool, sombre tones of the previous period. Hints of pink and orange hues began appearing in his pieces alongside harlequins and circus performers, adding a lively spirit that was previously absent. It is thought that the happiness portrayed in his paintings can be credited in part to his romance with Fernande Oliver, a Bohemian artist who became his lover.

Moving forward, he was greatly influenced by non-Western art, particularly pieces from Africa, after being impressed by African artefacts he saw in an ethnographic museum at Palais du Trocadéro. He stated that the ‘virus’ of African art stayed with him throughout his life. Despite having never visiting Africa, he was an avid collector of “art nègre” as it was known then and he collected over 100 African statues and masks. The African influence was first seen in one of his most famous paintings ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ with two of the five women’s faces shown as African masks. He has however been accused of appropriating African art without giving full credit.

Arguably his biggest influence to the art world came from his co-founding of the Cubist movement alongside his friend and fellow artist, Parisian painter Georges Braque. This new painting style was so influential to the world as it essentially broke all the traditional ‘rules’ and provided a different way of seeing. Cubism challenged conventional forms of art in an attempt to highlight that art should not copy nature.

When creating Cubist pieces, the subject of the painting is looked at differently - the artist isn’t limited to drawing what the eyes see. Objects are simplified into geometric components and placed onto paper in an abstracted form that would not appear in real life, creating a collage-like effect. Of Cubism, Picasso stated, “Cubism is not a reality you can take in your hand. It’s more like a perfume, in front of you, behind you, to the sides, the scent is everywhere but you don’t quite know where it comes from.” This style made such a profound impact that it formed the a further phase, Analytic Cubism, which concentrated on geometrical forms using subdued brownish and neutral colours. Synthetic Cubism came next, which consisted of cutting and reassembling paper fragments into compositions, marking the first use of the phenomenon of Collage.

The entire invention of this radical, unconventional and to some ‘genius’ style both shocked and fascinated the art world, simultaneously solidifying his position as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

He went on to have several other ‘periods’ that included Neoclassical and Surrealism. While his work may not be to your personal taste, it’s impossible to deny Picasso’s legacy is anything short of phenomenal. The impact his art had both during his time, and on the future of the art world is astronomical. His work transcends geographical and cultural boundaries with ease and exhibitions are held across the globe showcasing his extensive collection of work.

Pablo Picasso was, by any definition of the word, a visual genius.

At Hey Ants, we strongly believe in supporting creative communities, including artists who have been inspired by Pablo Picasso himself. We aim to enable people to collaborate and share their work, as well as provide users with something aesthetically pleasing to look at. If you’d like to have your artwork showcased on our website, please send your artwork to marketing@heyants.com