Introduction
Picasso, Pablo Ruiz y (1881-1973), Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, draughtsman, designer, and ceramicist who spent most of his career in France. He was the most famous and prolific artist of the 20th century and exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries.
II. Early Life and Work
Picasso was born in Málaga on October 25, 1881, the first child of a middle-class family. His father José Ruiz Blasco was a mediocre painter who earned his living as a teacher of drawing. Like many Spaniards, Picasso took his mother's family name as his surname.
Picasso showed artistic talent at an early age. His first surviving drawings were done when he was nine. By his early teens, it was clear that he was exceptionally gifted. In 1895 his family had moved to Barcelona, and from 1896 to 1897 he studied at the School of Fine Arts there. His large academic canvas Science and Charity (1897, Museo Picasso, Barcelona), depicting a doctor, a nun, and a child at a sick woman's bedside, won a gold medal when it was exhibited in Málaga. He then spent a few months at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, but by this time—aged only 16—he already had his own studio in Barcelona and was eagerly experimenting with a variety of styles.
III. The Blue Period
In 1900 Picasso made his first visit to Paris, the goal of every ambitious artist, and for the next four years he divided his time between there and Barcelona. He found the bohemian street-life of Paris fascinating, and his pictures of people in dance halls and cafés show how he assimilated the Post-Impressionism of Paul Gauguin and of the Symbolist painters called the Nabis. The themes he found in the work of Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as the style of the latter, exerted the strongest influence. Picasso's Blue Room (1901, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.) reflects the work of both these painters and, at the same time, shows his evolution towards the Blue Period, so called because various shades of blue, well suited to the melancholic subjects that he favoured at that time, dominated his work for the next few years (1901-1904). Expressing human misery, the paintings portray blind people, beggars, alcoholics, and prostitutes, their somewhat elongated bodies reminiscent of the style of El Greco.
IV. The Rose Period
In 1904 Picasso settled in Paris, living in a shabby building known as the Bateau-Lavoir (“laundry barge”, which it resembled). He met Fernande Olivier, the first of many companions to influence the theme, style, and mood of his work. The next year or so of his life is known as his Rose Period, when blue was replaced by pink as the predominant colour in his work. His subjects became more cheerful and included many scenes of the circus, which he frequently visited, and circus performers—bohemians outside respectable society—with whom he identified. One such painting of this period is Family of Saltimbanques (1905, National Gallery, Washington, D.C.); in the figure of the harlequin, Picasso represented his alter ego, a practice that he repeated in later works.
In 1909 Picasso moved out of the Bateau-Lavoir into an apartment with a maid. By this time he had attracted influential patrons, such as the American writer Gertrude Stein, whose portrait he painted (1906, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), and had gained the support of the art dealer Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, whom he met in 1907. Kahnweiler introduced Picasso to Georges Braque, another young artist whose work he handled.
V. Cubist Painting
In the summer of 1906, during a stay in Gosol, a remote Catalan village in the Pyrenees, Picasso's work entered a new phase, marked by the influence of Greek, Iberian, and African art. The key work of this early period is Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907, Museum of Modern Art, New York); the title comes from the name of a street in the red-light district of Barcelona and the painting depicts five prostitutes, their figures aggressively distorted and the faces of two of them recalling the African masks that Picasso admired and collected at this time. So radical in style was this picture—its surface resembling fractured glass—that it was not understood even by contemporary avant-garde painters and critics. Spatial depth is absent and the ideal form of the female nude is restructured into facets—the essential features that distinguish Cubism.
From the time of their first meeting in 1906 until the outbreak of World War I, Picasso and Braque worked closely together. Inspired by the volumetric treatment of form seen in the late work of Paul Cézanne, they began to paint landscapes in a style later described by a critic as being made of “little cubes”, thus leading to the term “Cubism”. They were concerned with breaking down and analysing form, and together they developed the first phase of Cubism, known as Analytical Cubism. Monochromatic colour schemes were favoured in their depictions of radically fragmented motifs, whose several sides were shown simultaneously. Picasso's favourite subjects were musical instruments, still-life objects, and his friends; one famous portrait is Daniel Henry Kahnweiler (1910, Art Institute of Chicago). In 1912, pasting paper and a piece of oilcloth to the canvas and combining these with painted areas, Picasso created his first collage, Still Life with Chair Caning (Musée Picasso, Paris).
The technique marked the transition to Synthetic Cubism. This second phase of Cubism is more decorative, with colour playing a major role. Picasso used Synthetic Cubism throughout his career, but by no means exclusively. Two works of 1915 demonstrate his simultaneous work in completely different styles: Harlequin (Museum of Modern Art, New York) is a Synthetic Cubist painting, whereas a fine pencil drawing of his dealer, Vollard (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), is executed in his Ingresque style, so called because the draughtsmanship emulates that of the 19th-century French Neo-Classical artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
VI. Cubist Sculpture
While he was creating this revolution in painting, Picasso was doing almost equally innovative work in sculpture. Traditionally there had been two approaches to sculpture—modelling (in which the form is built up from a substance such as clay) and carving (in which the form is created by removing material from a block of stone or other suitable material). Picasso changed this by putting together sculpture from pieces of commonplace material (a development of the collage elements that he sometimes included in his Cubist paintings). An example is Guitar (1912, Musée Picasso, Paris), made of cardboard, paper, and string.
Picasso's sculptures in this vein were generally small and almost in the nature of jokes, but the idea was soon taken up by other sculptors in much more ambitious form. Among them was the Russian painter and sculptor Vladimir Tatlin, who visited Picasso in 1914. Tatlin's variations on Picasso's method became the foundation of Constructivism, a major movement in abstract art.
VII. Realism and Surrealism
After the outbreak of war in 1914, Picasso continued to work in Paris. In 1917 he visited Rome with the writer Jean Cocteau to meet the Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, whose company was preparing for a production of Parade (the storyline of which was by Cocteau and the music by Erik Satie). Picasso designed the costumes and drop curtain. One of Diaghilev's dancers, Olga Koklova, became Picasso's first wife. In a realist style, Picasso painted several portraits of her around 1917, of their son (for example, Paulo as Harlequin; 1924, Musée Picasso, Paris), and of numerous friends. The couple moved into a grand apartment in Paris and Picasso became part of the fashionable world, losing touch with his bohemian youth.
In the immediate post-war period Picasso painted for a time in a style that has been called “classical” and that marked a reaction against the experimental fervour of the pre-war years. Several of Picasso's most imposing works of this time feature monumentally powerful figures that have something of the solidity and grandeur of ancient sculptures, for example Three Women at the Spring (1921, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Others, such as The Pipes of Pan (1923, Musée Picasso, Paris), were inspired by mythology.
This serenity was short-lived, however, for in the mid-1920s Picasso became interested in Surrealism and then started painting violently expressive pictures that reflected his despair at his increasingly unhappy marriage. The Three Dancers (1925, Tate Gallery, London) is a key work in this phase of his career.
Several Cubist paintings of the early 1930s, stressing harmonious, curvilinear lines and expressing an underlying eroticism, reflect Picasso's pleasure with his newest love, Marie Thérèse Walter, who gave birth to their daughter Ma?a in 1935. Marie Thérèse, frequently portrayed sleeping, was also the model for the famous Girl Before a Mirror (1932, Museum of Modern Art). In 1935 Picasso made the etching Minotauromachy, a major work combining his minotaur and bullfight themes; in it the disembowelled horse, as well as the bull, prefigure the imagery of Guernica, a painting often called the most important single work of the 20th century.
VIII. Guernica
Picasso was moved to paint Guernica shortly after German planes, acting in support of General Franco, bombarded the Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. Completed in less than two months, Guernica was hung in the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris International Exposition of 1937. The painting does not portray the event; rather, Picasso expressed his outrage by employing such imagery as a bull, a dying horse, a fallen warrior, a mother and dead child, a woman trapped in a burning building, another rushing into the scene, and a figure leaning from a window and holding out a lamp. Despite the complexity of its symbolism, and the impossibility of definitive interpretation, Guernica makes an overwhelming impact in its portrayal of the horrors of war. It now hangs in Madrid's museum of 20th-century art, the Reina Sofía Art Centre. Dora Maar, Picasso's companion at the time, took photographs of Guernica while the work was in progress.
IX. Later Works
Picasso remained defiantly in Paris during the German occupation of the city in World War II, but after the war he lived mainly in the South of France, in Vallauris from 1948 and at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, a villa in Mougins, from 1961 until his death. He continued to be extremely productive to the end of his long life (not least in ceramics, which he took up in 1946), but it is generally agreed that his post-war output is of lesser importance and interest than his earlier work. He died on April 8, 1973, aged 91.
中文介紹
畢加索作為法國現代畫派的主要代表，是壹位最富有創造性的藝術家。20世紀的藝術家、特別是西方藝術家，幾乎沒有未受過他的影響的。畢加索的藝術成就除去繪畫以外，還涉及到各種材質的雕塑、陶藝、書籍裝幀等方面。畢加索從9歲起就開始作畫，無論質還是量，都是驚人的，他的作品約達六萬件，僅油畫壹項就在萬件以上。這位天才橫溢的藝術家在極其漫長的創作活動的每壹刻，似乎想做的都讓他準確無誤地做到了。
父：荷西·路易茲-布拉斯科
母：瑪莉亞·畢加索-洛培茲
1881 10月25日出生於西班牙南部的馬拉加
1888/9 7/8歲 在父親(美術教師)指導下畫畫。
1889 8歲 完成第壹件油畫作品，畫的是鬥牛士。
1895 14歲 進入巴塞隆納的隆哈美術學校，其父於該校任教。入學考試是古典藝術與靜物寫生，依規定可有壹個月時間完成，畢加索在壹天之內就完成了。
1896 15歲 作品"初次領聖體"參加巴塞隆納美術與工業展。
1897 16歲 進入馬德裏聖費南多美術學院就讀。但常不去上課，比較喜歡去"普拉多美術館"參觀。在那裏，他可以接觸到西班牙大師的作品：葛雷柯、委拉斯蓋茲及哥雅等。 作品"科學與慈善"獲馬德裏全國美展榮譽獎，後來又在馬拉加得到金牌獎。
1898 17歲 經常出入"四只貓"酒館，開始與前衛藝術圈往來。結織卡薩吉瑪斯及日後成為其私人秘書的沙巴特斯。
1900 19歲 在"四只貓"酒館舉行首次個展。與卡薩吉瑪斯首次前往巴黎，居住於蒙馬特區。
1901 20歲 好友卡薩吉瑪斯因失戀自殺，觸發畢加索以藍色調作畫，藍色時期開始。在弗拉畫廊舉行巴黎首次個展，開幕前就賣出15張畫。
1902 21歲 完成"藍色自畫像"。
1903 22歲 完成"人生"。以濃郁的藍色調表示貧、老與孤獨的苦難。1900-1903年間三度回西班牙。
1904 23歲 定居於巴黎"洗衣船"。邂逅費爾南德．奧立維並同居，常去觀賞馬戲團的演出，粉紅色時期開始。
1905 24歲 以馬戲團題材創作"賣藝人家"等。畫展受到重視。結識潔楚·斯坦因兄妹。
1906 25歲 在羅浮宮看到伊比利亞半島的雕塑展，印象深刻。結識野獸派大師馬蒂斯。
1907 26歲 創作"亞維農的少女"。到民俗博物館看非洲雕塑。參觀兩個塞尚回顧展。結識布拉克。
1908 27歲布拉克第壹次舉行立體派畫作展。
1909 28歲 解析立體派開始。與布拉克成為鄰居。作"費爾南德頭像"。
1911 30歲 首次把印刷字母放到構圖中。邂逅艾娃·谷維。
1912 31歲 與費爾南德分手。完成第壹個拼貼作品"藤椅靜物"。與布拉克合作紙貼畫，發展出合成立體主義。
1915 34歲 艾娃因肺結核逝世。
1917 36歲 至意大利為俄羅斯芭蕾舞團作舞臺設計，邂逅舞者歐嘉．科克洛瓦。
1918 37歲 與歐嘉結婚。因芭蕾而與上流社會接觸。與馬蒂斯舉行聯展。
1919 38歲 認識米羅。
1921 40歲 長子保羅(1921-1975)出世。
1922 41歲 創作"海邊奔跑的兩個女人"。
1924 43歲 以裝飾性立體派風格作許多靜物畫。
1916/7-1924年間多次為芭蕾舞臺作設計。
1925 44歲 創作"舞"，首次影射與歐嘉的緊張關系。參加超現實主義的首次展出。
1926 45歲 以集合物手法作"吉他"系列。
1927 46歲 邂逅年僅17歲的瑪麗-德雷莎·華特。
1929 48歲 與雕塑家貢薩列斯壹起創作雕塑和鐵線構成。作系列以女人頭像為題的攻擊性畫作，顯現姻婚危機。結識達利。
1931 50歲 於柏吉盧城堡設立雕塑工作室。參加超現實主義於美國的首展。
1932 51歲 以瑪麗-德雷莎為模特兒。
1933 52歲 以雕塑家工作室為題，創作蝕版畫 (佛拉系列版畫)。費爾南德．奧立維出版回憶錄。
1934 53歲 創作以鬥牛為題的作品。發表用織物做模型翻制的雕塑作品。
1935 54歲 6月與歐嘉及保羅分居。9月瑪麗-德雷莎與畢加索的女兒瑪亞出生。
1936 55歲 邂逅南斯拉夫女攝影師兼畫家多拉·瑪爾。
1937 56歲 創作"格爾尼卡"。
1939 58歲 同時畫瑪麗-德雷莎與多拉的同姿勢肖像。
1943 62歲 邂逅22歲的方斯華姿·吉洛。作集合物"牛頭"。
1944 63歲 加入法國***產黨。
1945 64歲 於慕洛完成第壹批石版畫。
1946 65歲 與方斯華姿·吉洛同居。訪馬蒂斯。
1947 66歲 方斯華姿·吉洛生子克羅德。首次在陶藝家哈米耶工作室中制陶，至1948年***作了2000件陶藝。
1949 68歲 方斯華姿·吉洛生女帕樂瑪。為世界和平會議作"鴿子"石版海報。
1950 69歲 獲頒列寧和平獎章。
1953 72歲 於瑪都拉陶藝工作坊邂逅傑奎琳·洛克。
1954 73歲 與方斯華姿·吉洛分手。馬蒂斯逝世(畢加索曾說："只有馬蒂斯才是真正的畫家")。開始創作德拉克洛瓦的"阿爾及利亞女人"變奏系列。
1955 74歲 歐嘉逝世。
1956 75歲 與克魯佐***同拍攝電影"畢加索之謎"公映。寫信給***產黨，抗議俄羅斯入侵匈牙利。
1957 76歲 畫委拉斯蓋茲"宮女"變奏40余張。
1959 78歲 作馬內"草地上的午餐"變奏系列。
1961 80歲 與35歲的傑奎琳結婚。
1963 82歲 繪制"畫家與模特兒"系列。巴塞隆納的畢加索美術館開幕。布拉克逝世。
1964 83歲 方斯華姿·吉洛出版回憶錄，造成畢加索與克羅德及帕樂瑪決裂。
1966 85歲 巴黎大皇宮及小皇宮舉辦大型畢加索回顧展。
1970 89歲 把西班牙家中保存的畫作捐贈給巴塞隆納畢加索美術館。
作品
1881—1900年 童年時期
1881年 10月25日畢加索出生於西班牙南部的馬拉加；
1889年 完成第壹件油畫作品《鬥牛士》；
1895年 進入巴塞羅那的隆哈美術學校；
1897年 進入馬德裏的皇家聖費南多美術學院就讀，油畫作品《科學與慈善》獲馬德裏全國美展榮譽獎，後來又在馬拉加得到金牌獎；
1900—1903年 藍色時期
1902年 完成“藍色自畫像”；
1903年 完成《人生》，以濃郁的藍色調表示貧老與孤獨的苦難；
1904—1906年 玫瑰時期
1904年 開始定居巴黎的“洗衣船”，玫瑰時期開始。邂逅費爾南德·奧利維葉，並同居：
1905年 創作《拿煙鬥的男孩》並被慈善家約翰·海惠特尼女士以3萬美元重金購得；
1906年 結識野獸派大師馬蒂斯，為美國作家兼收藏家菖楚·斯坦因畫像，《斯坦因畫像》是畢加索從“玫瑰時期”躍入“立體主義”的跳板；
1907—1916年 立體主義時期
1907年 結識布拉克，開始立體派風格創作，創作《亞威農少女》；
1909年 解析立體派開始；創作《費爾南德頭像》；
1917—1924年 古典時期
1917年 在意大利邂逅舞者歐嘉·科克洛娃，創作《歐嘉的肖像》；
1918年 與歐嘉結婚，與馬蒂斯舉行聯展；
1920年 手工彩繪珂羅版《三角帽》；
1922年 創作《海邊奔跑的兩個女人》；
1925—1932年 超現實主義時期
1927年 邂逅年僅17歲的瑪麗·德蕾莎·沃爾持，成為畢加索的模特。並生下女兒馬姬；
1929年 與雕塑家貢薩列斯壹起創作雕塑和鐵線結構成。作系列以女人頭像為題的攻擊性畫作，顯現婚姻危機，結識達利；
1932—1945年 蛻變時期
1932年 創作《紅色扶手椅中的女人》；
1933年 以雕塑家工作室為題，創作蝕版畫
1934年 創作以鬥牛為題的作品；
1936年 西班牙內戰暴發。認識多拉。瑪爾，並創作《多拉·瑪爾的肖像》；
1937年 創作完成《格爾尼卡》；
1942年 創作版畫《大自然的故事》
1943年 邂逅22歲的弗朗索娃·吉洛；
1944年 加入法國***產黨；
1945年 開始嘗試石版畫創作；
1946—1973年 田園時期
1947年 兒子克洛德降生。在陶藝家哈米耶工作室制陶，至1948年***作了2000件陶藝術品；
1948年 為世界和平會議作“和平之鴿“海報和《貢戈拉的二十首詩》；
1949年 創作《卡門》系列；
1950年 獲列寧和平獎章；
1953年 在瑪都拉陶藝工作坊邂逅傑奎琳·洛克；
1954年 開始創作德拉克羅瓦的“阿爾及利亞女人”變奏系列；
1956年 與克羅魯佐***同拍攝電影《神秘的畢加索》公映；
1957年 在紐約現代藝術館舉辦“畢加索75歲紀念展”，創作版畫《鬥牛系列》；
1958年 畢加索為設在巴黎的聯合國教科文總部大廈創作了壁畫《伊卡洛斯的墜落》；
1959年 創作仿馬奈《草地上的午餐》變奏系列；
1961年 與35歲的傑奎琳·洛克結婚，並慶祝畢加索80大壽；
1963年 繪制《畫家與模特兒》；
1966年 巴黎大皇宮及小皇宮舉辦大型《畢加索回顧展》。創作《流沙系列》；
1968年 創作《塞萊斯蒂納》和《可笑的男人》系列版畫；
1970年 把西班牙家中保存的近2000件早期作品捐贈結巴塞羅納畢加索美術館：
1971年 巴黎國立現代藝術館舉辦了《畢加索誕生90同年回顧展》；
1973年 92歲，4月8日逝世於坎城附近的幕瞻市。4月10日葬於佛文納菊別墅花園裏