Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) is regarded as the art genius of the 20th century and one of the finest artists of all time. Two major keys to his talent and success were his abilities to experiment with style, and to incorporate various influences into his work. Throughout his lifetime, he was a prolific; creating paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, and illustrations.

After his early training--some by his artist and teacher father--he explored a variety of styles and themes during 2-5 year periods.

Picasso's Blue Period (1900-1905) was in part inspired by the Impressionist artists. Although Picasso didn't' adopt the entire approach, he decided to use color to create mood. His paintings were all done in blue to reflect the pain and melancholy of his subjects--street people, beggers, and homeless people.

Upon moving from Spain to Paris, Picasso started his Rose Period. Paintings of this time seemed more optimistic and light. Subjects included actors, circus folk, and the more colorful and happy parts of city life.

In 1906 and 7, Picasso was deeply affected primitive art and novice painters who, in his mind, exhibited a certain purity to be emulated. He began to seek even bolder ways of expressing himself.

1909 and a friendship with Georges Braque brought us to the birth of the Cubist movement. This style sought to represent objects as a series of geometric planes. Over time, forms were broken up to look more abstract and collage was added.

Over the next several decades, Picasso experimented with sculpture, more classical works, a series of minotaur drawings and paintings, surrealist work, and political art. In the 30s, he created his famous work, Guernica, an 11 by 25 foot mural as a reaction to war. In Guernica he captured human suffering in an unprecedented fashion.

He continued to create artwork until his death--focusing on ceramics, sculpture, and graphic work during the last decades.

• We don't have to like all artwork.
• We can still appreciate and learn from artwork that we don’t like.
• Abstract art is usually created by an artist looking at something real and then changing it, exaggerating it, or combining different objects
• For the last two hundred years, a major part of being an artist is to find new ways to see things and new ways of working with art materials

It can sometimes be helpful to start a discussion with the simple question: do you like this? Let students respond and then ask, why do you think he painted this?

Note that many of the facial features and body parts look somewhat real all by themselves, it's the placement and proportion that Picasso was playing with. Picasso held deep respect for primitive art and untrained artists. He may have been reflecting some of those influences here. Notice the left eye is painted from a profile view. You can see this same approach in ancient Egyptian art. The simple color scheme may have been taken from African art. You can also see a touch of his cubism past with the blocky fingers.

Another insight into a painting like this is to point out that many modern artists were setting out to depict people as objects or shapes, not necessarily as people. A painting like this highlights the different body parts and forms of the human. You see the pieces more than the whole.

What do you see in this painting?
How would you describe the style?
What do you think this person is like? What might he do for a living?
How is this different from other portraits?
Why might he be painted this way?
How would you describe the painting's mood (or feeling)?
How did the artist create that affect?
Do you think that he was looking at a person when he painted this?

Oil pastel, tempera paint, crayon

Tip: I usually direct students to work on their painting with one color at a time, for example, paint all of the or

©2001 Jennifer MacLeod