PABLO RUIZ PICASSO

(Malaga, 1881 – Mouguins, 1973)

In October of 1881, the brilliant painter was born in Malaga, in La Plaza de la Merced. His father was a teacher of drawing and curator of a museum in the city and, in the environment of Malaga, Picasso started his artistic education. Since his childhood he was a bad student; however, at the age of five he was able to express himself better through drawing than in written language.

He continued his formation in A Coruña and Madrid and, at the age of 18 he was intensively living Barcelona´s artistic atmosphere. Due to his ideology –anarchism and social worries- emerged his “blue period”, an ideal colour for painting sadness, vices and misfortunes.

In 1904 he moved to Paris and started his “rose period”. The themes were the same as in the previous period, but the predominant colour was different. In the spring of 1907, with his work “Las chicas de Avinyó” –known later as “Les demoiselles d´ Avingnon”– is when he started to develop his own revolutionary vision of cubism.

Since then his better known creative periods followed: Monstrousness, Classical, undulating forms similar to stained glasses and his great works of denunciation, Guernica, La Carnicería, Matanza en Corea.

His personal life was always in the gossip magazines: his love of bullfights and his friendship with some bullfighters; his affiliation to the communist party; his relationships –He had six women in his life and in his works: Fernande, Marcelle, Olga, Maria Theme, Dora, Françoise and Jacqueline- ; his fortune and the controversial inheritance, ..., everything about his life was and continues being of public interest.

Life and work of this undeniable genius – representative of the 20th century – have so many values and attractions that his fame is well deserved. His fame did not start after his death as usually happens to many artist, his fame started and continued to be appreciated and celebrated during his lifetime.