Pablo Picasso Research Paper

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Art: A Masterpiece of Humanity

Aadil Malik Mr. Carey8th Period

May 19th, 2010



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Colors, paintings, sculptures, music, abstract, literature – these are the common things

that come to mind when a person thinks about art. Truly, art can be anything, from Pablo

Picasso’s famous artwork, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, to the grass in a neighbor’s backyard. Art

can be visual, physical, and even mental. Art is anything that impact’s a persons mood, emotions,

or train of thought; a masterpiece of humanity.

Art and perception are very interlinked, for mankind’s ability to comprehend it is biased

by their own perceptions. Everyone has a different classification of art, not only due to its

abstraction, but also due to subjective insights upon it. No single person has the same opinion

about art as another. When two people look at the same grass, one may realize its beauty, while

the may only realize that it needs to be cut. Every human has a different view towards pieces of

art.

Similarly with literature, visual art has a mood. Starry Night painted by 19th century artist,

Vincent Van Gogh, portrays a mystical and inexplicable mood. For every artwork, there is an

artist. The ‘artist’ of grass would be the person who plants the seed. The artist normally intends

to set a mood in his artwork, or a reason for its creation. Since art is simply anything in broad

terms, a house could be considered artwork. If a carpenter built a house in the shape of an oval,

he probably intended to make it look unique and unusual. This would be an example of the mood

portrayed by a piece of art. Many people mistakenly claim that the definition of the word mood

is ‘the way a person feels’. However, this meaning applies to the word ‘emotion’. The mood of

art is actually its aesthetics, which impacts a viewer’s emotion as well.

When a person suddenly looks away from one thing and starts gazing at another, his

entire thought is changed. Humans are always thinking. Therefore, when a person looks at a

statue, he may start pondering about who crafted it. Anything that has an effect on one’s thought

is considered as art. Most people categorize it as only being photography, paintings, or sculpture.



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Actually, these are only examples of visual art. Art is not something that needs to be studied

meticulously in order to understand it. It is a simple aspect that deserves to be appreciated.

The fact that art can influence a person’s mind makes it acclaimed as a masterpiece of

humanity itself. It allows a person to expand their knowledge by creating an infestation of ideas

that they never would have thought of before. American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley once

said, “An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one”. The reason Cooley is correct is because art

can be anything. A black canvas can be considered as artwork. It is a success to be an artist alone

since he can capture and affect the mind of another. Whether it is a painting of a man being

brutally massacred, or a photograph of nature’s best, the belief that art can impact a person’s life

makes it utterly beautiful.

One infamous name is thought of when a person thinks about art, and that name is Pablo

Picasso. During his illustrious career, he not only revolutionized modern art, but helped create

new forms, such as Cubism. Picasso used artwork to describe his life, including moments when

he was depressed, and jubilant. Lael Wertenbaker of “Time-Life Books” states, Picasso was “the

most successful artist of the 20th century” (Wertenbaker 167). He defined the true life of an artist,

by showing his understanding of how art is the act of creating, rather than the creation itself.

Born Pablo Ruiz Blasco on the 25th of October in 1881, his parents were astonished at his

skills in art at a young age. In fact, Pablo’s first words were, “Piz, piz”, closely sounding to the

word lapiz in Spanish, meaning pencil. At the age of eight, Pablo painted his first oil painting,

which he called The Picador . In the year of 1891, Picasso left Malaga to La Corogna in

Northern Spain. There, he studied at the Institute da Guarda, where his father, Don Jose Ruiz

Blasco, educated students about art. Picasso was exposed to several forms of art, including

literature. He published his own small magazine, Azul y Blanco, meaning blue and white, in

1893. Later, Picasso visited the Prado Museum in Madrid for the first time, influencing him to



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moderately stay in Spain. He also experienced the death of his sister, Conchita. After that

summer, Picasso moved to Barcelona to attend more classes in La Lonja, where he would meet

Manuel Pallares, whom he would paint a portrait of later in his career at the start of the era of

Cubism. With all this familiarity in his early life, Picasso was bound to become a prestigious

artist in the future to come.

It is claimed that Picasso painted over 20,000 masterpieces during his lifetime. His

artworks ranged from sculptures to portraits, as he was a very well-rounded individual. In 1893,

he drew portraits and caricatures for a magazine called La Coruna. Picasso moved to his first

studio—calle de la Plata—in Barcelona. He met a man named Carlos Casagemas there, and held

his first exhibition with him. It exhibited over 150 portraits of his colleagues. Picasso became

great friends with Casagemas that they even moved to Paris together in 1900. In this new

century, Picasso became extremely devoted to producing revolutionary art.

In Paris, Picasso met art dealer Pedro Manach who offered him 150 pesetas (around

$1.22) a month in exchange for a few pieces of art. Desiring more opportunity, Picasso decided

to migrate back to Spain leaving good friend Casagemas behind in Paris. While in Spain, Picasso

was unaware until later that his friend had commit suicide due to rejection from the one he loved.

When Picasso realized this had happened, he had been struck deeply and emotionally, generating

a new era of his art.

The Blue Period of Picasso’s artwork demonstrated a time of gloom, sadness, and overall

depression. He began to think about things like poverty and violence. During this era, Picasso

primarily used the color blue, reflecting his time of depression. He started pondering on the

realities of life and death. Throughout this period, he started signing his artwork with his mother,

Dono Maria Picasso’s, last name. His famous artworks in this period included The Old Guitarist,

Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, and Still Life. In 1902, Picasso returned to Barcelona and met Julio



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Gonzalez, a friend he would create metal sculptures with. In 1904, Picasso made his final and

definite move back to Paris, where he ended his grief by meeting his first love, a model named

Fernande Olivier.

Picasso used to approach women and flirt, “I’m Picasso! We’re going to do great things

together” (Krull 57). During the Rose Period, Picasso had a very notorious love life. Most pieces

of art in the period were portraits of his mistresses. He left Olivier for Marcelle Humbert, whom

he called Eva. Yet, he left her as well, and went on to marry famous ballerina Olga Khoklova,

and had son Paulo with her. However, even this relationship was bitterly unsuccessful, for

Picasso had an affair with a seventeen-year old girl named Maria Therese Walters. She gave him

a daughter. They never had a marriage, and in the future, four years after Picasso’s death,

Walters would hang herself. In the mid-1930s, famous French photographer Dora Maar had a

deep love for Picasso. However, he was in love with young student, Francoise Gilot. She gave

birth to two of his children, Elaude and Palona. Clearly, Picasso was very insecure. Therefore,

this time she left him due to his infidelities in 1953. Picasso was in his seventies and had become

extremely dejected. Nonetheless, during this long span of time, Picasso had been painting new

forms of art, such as Cubism, which he invented back in 1907 with Georges Braque. His legacy

is still experienced today, with Cubism being a huge accomplishment that would inspire many

individuals to come.

At the time, not only was their major controversy in Picasso’s world, but the world itself

had been experiencing many troubles. In 1939, the World War II had taken effect. One of

Picasso’s famous paintings is Guernica, his response to the German bombing of the Spanish

town. He had expressed great sympathy for the families of the 1,600 civilians whose lives were

cruelly taken away. During the German occupation of Paris, he had kept the painting of

Guernica very visible in his studio. A Nazi officer once saw it and said, “So it was you who did



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that,” to which Picasso replied, “No, you did it”. He reflected enormous power and aesthetic

meaning in his artwork.

Picasso’s works are still preserved in museums today. Lael Wertenbaker writes that one

of Picasso’s paintings Mother and Child, “sold in 1967 for $532,000, the highest ever paid [so

far] for a living artist [at the time]” (Wertenbaker 167). Picasso died on April 8th, 1973, aged 92.

However, his paintings are still alive.

Picasso also loved his children, and “went to great lengths to entertain them; he even

dressed in women’s underwear, and did magic to make them happy. Though as they grew older,

Picasso lost interest in them” (Krull 57). Picasso enjoyed life, and made it his own art.

Picasso was and still is the truest artist. It is claimed that he once said, “When I was a

child, my mother said to me: If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general; if you become a monk,

you’ll end up as the pope. Instead, I became a painter, and I wound up as Picasso”

(http://www.picasso.fr/). He demonstrated art as a whole and as a verb, and achieved his goal of

fulfilling his necessities.

A pencil is necessary for a writer, knowledge is necessary for a teacher, and paint is

necessary for a painter. Everyone’s necessity has an importance. Importance is a puzzling word

when it comes to defining it, but in broad it means ‘value’. However, opinions affect this

importance from one person to another. One can deem an eraser as important, but another may

think it has no value at all. In order to be an artist, a person has to deem art as important. Pablo

Picasso believed it was important to leave an impact so future artists could be inspired by him.

Picasso struggled rigorously to find his own expertise in art, which reflected the reason

he had many ‘periods’ where he introduced his works. He looked at the history of art to seek

ideas. According to an article by Biography, Pablo Picasso was greatly “influenced by artists

such as Alfdorer, Manet, Rembrandt, Detacroix, and Courbet” (http://www.biography.com/).



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However, Picasso never exactly mimicked another artist’s masterpieces. Instead, he used them as

a motivator to challenge himself to produce something similar, yet extremely different as well.

For example, Picasso painted a similar Luncheon on the Grass originally created by Manet. He

used his influences to improve himself and therefore impact more artists.

One of Pablo’s greatest influences was his father, Don Jose. Jose exposed his son to skills

of art the Institute da Guarda in Northern Spain. Kate Scarborough, author of Pablo Picasso-

Artists of Their Time, states in her biography that Picasso was “determined at a young age, […]

would cry for a ‘piz, piz’” (Scarborough 6). Picasso’s father even let him complete his pictures.

Don Jose claimed his son would surpass his minute skills in the soon future.

Picasso once said, “You expect me to tell you: What is art? If I knew, I would keep my

knowledge to myself” (Scarborough 41). Many admire and are influenced by his witty

personality. Arshile Gorky, who had an influence on Abstract Expressionism, was impacted

significantly by Picasso’s works. Gorky looked at Picasso’s style and forms of art, mostly the

colors he chose, an applied those he presumed important to his own works. He is even reported

to have once said, “If Picasso drips, I drip” (Petrovich). Picasso changed art by publishing his

works in different eras, allowing every future artist to take away something from his illustrious

career.

Picasso’s era where he reflected poverty, violence, and death was known as the Blue

Period. The death of his friend Casagemas shocked him spectacularly. Picasso started to question

life and the reality of death. This impact riveted him to start reflecting depressing moods. After

the death, Picasso published three paintings of Casagemas: Death of Casagemas (in color) ,

Death of Casagemas (in blue) , and Evocation: The Burial of Casagemas. This event changed

Picasso’s life drastically to the point where he was on the brink of extreme depression. However,

his artworks were similar to temperature; constantly changing based on the cycle of life.



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Picasso’s controversial love life also impacted his artwork deeply. During the Rose

Period, he had an exceedingly active relationship status. This lasted through periods to come, but

at first it allowed him to escape being depressed. His first recorded partner was Fernande Olivier,

who appeared in many of his Rose period paintings. However, he left her for Marcelle Humbert,

whom he called Eva, and painted her in several of his Cubist paintings. But yet again, Picasso

was devastated by the sudden death of Humbert at a young age. Picasso was able to cope through

this death easier, and was able to continue his love life. Throughout his memorable life, he had

several partners along with his wives. He was married twice, and had four children with three

separate women. Dora Maar also had a deep-rooted compassion for Pablo Picasso; however, he

only showed slight interest. She documented Picasso’s famous painting, Guernica, as well. He

was impacted by almost everyone and anyone.

Generally, Picasso contrasted himself against whom he perceived as masters in the

industry, evaluating their styles and abilities to produce a new form of art. This new movement

of art was known as Cubism, which was founded by Picasso and his colleague, Georges Braque.

Founders of Surrealism, who believed art should convey the insensible mind and allow the

observer to ponder many thoughts, conceded that Picasso was influenced by their style. He did

have the “Surrealist” type of thinking, and to prove that he even once said, “A work of art must

make a man react, feel strongly, start creating too, if only in his imagination. He must be seized

by the threat and shaken up; he has to be made aware of the world he’s living in and for that he

must be jolted out of it” (Scarborough 40). Andre Breton, one founder of the Surrealist

movement, said when Picasso was alive: “We claim him as one of ours, even though it is

impossible, […] Surrealism has but to pass where Picasso has already passed, and where he will

pass in the future” (Scarborough 25). Picasso’s utilization of his influences to impact others is

admirable to all artists today.



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“Succession Picasso” states that Pablo’s eightieth birthday was celebrated “all around the

world” (http://www.picasso.fr/). However, some believe that his influence has started to fade off,

even though artists like Jasper John, who painted A Cup to Picasso, are still impacted by his

revolutionary masterpieces. Aspiring painter Dushko Petrovich claims in The Boston Globe that

Picasso’s name “does not come up as the most influential artist as it once did before”

(Petrovich). However in disagreement, published author Kate Scarborough writes that Picasso’s

“sheer diversity opens his influence to virtually every artist working today, even if it is not

acknowledged” (Scarborough 36). In all arguments, it is just a matter of belief. It is safe to say

that Picasso remains one of the greatest contemporary artists of his century.

Picasso spent his entire life as an artist accomplishing what he deemed a necessity for an

artist to be successful: leaving an impact. The “Musee Picasso”, commonly known by westerners

as the “Picasso Museum”, features many of his extensive works in his early career. Many of

Picasso’s paintings grade as some of the most expensive in the world. “His passion to experiment

and his fearless use of different styles led to innovations that has a great impact on contemporary

artists, and made his name known throughout the world” (Scarborough 6). His impact is apparent

in many of his famous artworks.

An old, blind man, wearing ragged clothing, sitting on the side of a street, is playing a

guitar in a position as if he is playing a cello. Strumming gently with his thumb, his awkwardly

shaped body pays no heed to his inner comfort. It seems as he has been playing in this exact

position for quite a while now, and his body has become prone to sit like this. His guitar is a

symbol of his life; every string being a different sound of emotion. These strings of life are

waiting for their last stroke, a representation of death, portrayed in The Old Guitarist by Pablo

Picasso.



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Death strikes everyone and anyone, and Picasso had difficulty coping with that harsh, yet

true fact. The Old Guitarist was his way of reflecting death and its sorrow. The oil on panel was

completed in the year of 1903, amidst a time of great poverty and war in Spain. However,

Picasso was claimed to have been inspired to paint The Old Guitarist by not only these events

and the death of his best friend, but by other painters as well. The Art Institute of Chicago, where

his work is today, claims that “the man’s elongated limbs and cramped angular posture recall the

pictures of the great 16 th century artist, El Greco” (Rimer). Picasso painted few works in the Blue

Period, and this was the most enthralling one of all.

Picasso’s dominant use of grays and blues derived from his gloominess after the death of

his close friend. The Blue Period heeds the color of melancholy, therefore the connotation of

being so ‘blue’.

The Old Guitarist is a small painting, approximately 112.9 cm. by 82.6 cm. It depicts an

obsolete man playing a clean guitar. It seems as though the guitar has been played for a very long

period of time, yet it remains unmarked. Picasso uses the guitar as a symbol of heart, dedication,

and hope, and although the aesthetics of the man give the impression that he is worn out, his soul

is still alive. The man’s body bends towards the left facing away from the guitar. His hands are

emaciated and skeleton-like. The elder sits cross-legged and barefoot on the rough floor, against

a coarse wall. His corpselike body gives the idea that he has been famished for several days. His

hands are elegantly placed on the neck and strings of the guitar. The man looks so

uncomfortable, yet relaxed; so tired, yet soothed; so old, yet fresh. The guitar is the only thing he

has left. If one was to cover the face and legs in the painting and only pay concentration to his

hands, they show such delight and relief. However, when uncovered, Picasso’s representation of

this man haunts the viewer remarkably.



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In order to become an artist, one has to produce art. However, in order to become a

‘Picasso’, on has to produce a masterpiece. A masterpiece is a piece of art that can be interpreted

into different ways, depending on the views of the person. The Old Guitarist is an example of a

masterpiece because it allows the spectator to infest into the painting and seek its meaning.

Picasso revealed himself to innumerous forms of art, which made him a target for art critics of

his time. One analyst writes that “at the time the painting was made, literature of the Symbolists

included blind characters that possessed powers of inner vision” (http://www.mystudios.com/).

Many analyzers have made discoveries in the painting of the old man as well.

There is an unsolved mystery behind the painting of The Old Guitarist . It is claimed that

there are two hidden pictures dropped behind the old man. One is of a mother and child, and the

other is a figure, a head, and a guitar. Bonnie Rimer of the Art Institute of Chicago writes that

“No one knows why the artist abandoned the earlier paintings, but his letter [to poet Max Jacob]

indicates that he considered it important enough to share with his friend” (Rimer). These inner

paintings have remained a mystery for a very long time. This shows Picasso’s power to

manipulate and control the viewers of his art.

The Old Guitarist was Picasso’s “introspective to a life that was well-lived […] and one

that few fear to tread” (Fuhrmann). His skill to produce riveting art changed the perception of

human beings. His works let him and his patrons understand and comprehend some realities of

life, like death and sorrow. Picasso once said that “pain and death are integral parts of life”

(Fuhrmann). Picasso changed art; “many individuals have drawn inspiration from The Old

Guitarist which demonstrated the ardent fever that millions of aspiring artists and just general

forms of great art, possess for Pablo Picasso and his works” (Fuhrmann). Painters paint

paintings, but Picasso painted masterpieces.



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As time passes, art remains the same as it did once before in Pablo Picasso’s era. Even

though art has become much more modernized in today’s culture, the belief that art is the act of

creating instead of the creation itself is unchanged. Picasso’s legacy is only one; there are many

artists who have left their legacy. Though today, many artists have forgotten what art really is,

making it hard to leave their legacy in the art world. It is an influence, it is happiness, it is

sorrow, it is an epiphany, it is an inspiration, it is determination, it is Picasso, it is simply art; a

masterpiece of humanity. ~



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Works Cited

"Biography." Pablo Picasso. Succession Picasso. Web. 17 Mar. 2010.

<http://www.picasso.fr/us/picasso_page_index.php>.

Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (And What the Neighbors Thought) .

San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1995. Print.

"Pablo Picasso Biography." Biography.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2010.

<http://www.biography.com/articles/Pablo-Picasso-9440021>.

Petrovich, Dushko. "The Afterlife of Influence - The Boston Globe." The Boston Globe. Web. 21

Mar. 2010. <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/12/31/the

afterlife_of_influence >.

"Picasso- The Old Guitarist." My Studios- Home. Web. 26 Mar. 2010.

<http://www.mystudios.com/art/modern/picasso/picasso-old-guitarist.html>.

Rimer, Bonnie. "The Collection: Revealing Picasso Conservation Project." The Art Institute of

Chicago. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.artic.edu/aic/conservation/revealingpicasso/>.

Scarborough, Kate. Pablo Picasso - Artists in Their Time. New York: Franklin Watts, 2002.

Print.

Wertenbaker, Lael. The World of Picasso. New York: Time-Life, 1967. Print.

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