Pablo Picasso: An artist way ahead of his time

“Weeping Woman” (left) and Pablo Picasso (right)

Though famed artist Pablo Picasso passed away 35 years ago, the Cubist movement which he helped found, lives on. Among his most famous works are the cubist work Les Demoiselle d'Avignon (1907), his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, titled Guernica (1937) and The Weeping Woman (1937).
Cubism was created by Picasso in tandem with his good friend George Braque. In fact at times their works were so similar that even the artists found it hard to identify their works quickly.
The innovative style of Cubism soon spread. Many a progressive painter took up Cubism, whether they were French, German, Belgian or American. In 1913, in New York, the new style was presented at an exhibition at the midtown armorythe famous Armory Showwhich caused a sensation.
Picasso was a prolific artist throughout his long life. According to estimates, he has produced around 50,000 artworks, comprising 1,885 paintings, 1,228 sculptures, 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, thousands of prints and a large number of tapestries and rugs.
Picasso's tremendous artistic skills were revealed early and he could safely be called a child prodigy. According to his mother, his first words were “piz, piz”, a short form of Lapiz, the Spanish word for 'pencil'. Initially his father, a professor of art at the School of Arts and the curator of a local museum in Malaga in the Andulasian region of Spain instructed the young boy in figure drawing and oil painting.
The family later moved to La Coruna in 1891 so that his father could become a professor at the School of Fine Arts. They stayed there for four years. Once Picasso's father found his son painting over his unfinished sketch of a pigeon. Impressed by the 13-year-old boy's unmistakable talent-which he felt surpassed himhe vowed to give up painting.
After his sister died, the family moved to Barcelona, Later his father and uncle sent the young artist to Madrid's Royal Academy of San Fernando, the country's most famous art school. Madrid inspired the young boy greatly: particularly the paintings of well known Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya and Francisco Zurbaran. He was particularly impressed by the works of El Greco. The latter's elements, the elongated limbs, vibrant colours and mystical visages find a reflection in Picasso's works.
He soon went to Paris, the art capital where he was greatly impressed by the works of Manet, Gustave Courbet and Tolouse-Lautrec with their sketchy style.
Before delving into Cubism, Picasso went through several stylesrealism, caricature, the Blue Period (largely predominantly blue and subjects such as outcasts, beggars, and prostitutes) and the Rose Period (when the artist's work brightened up with colours such as pink and roses. The works encapsulated subjects such as circus people, acrobats and harlequins).
Picasso was also active in his later years. He was one of the 250 sculptors who displayed their works in the 3rd Sculpture International held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1949. Some years later he was commissioned to make a maquette for a huge 50-foot high public sculpture to be built in Chicago. The famous artist's final works were marked by a blend of styles. Immersed in his work, his paintings became more colourful. For his discovery of neo-expressionism, Picasso is regard as an artist way ahead of his time.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent