Picasso time. Pablo Picasso - biography, facts, paintings - the great Spanish painter

In the summer of 1912, Picasso created a series of images of musical instruments. Significant changes are taking place in his work, which will lead the artist to the next stage of cubism - synthetic cubism. In Picasso's musical still lifes, the influence of Paul Cézanne is noticeable. The artist decomposes musical instruments into their individual component elements and shows them to the viewer simultaneously from different points of view. According to the author, the viewer himself must do some analytical work to recreate the image of the musical instrument.
Among the most beautiful early still lifes of the artist is a small oval painting “Musical Instruments”. Its decorative form, popular in French art of the 17th and 18th centuries, has an inner harmony that gives it even greater grace. In the still life, Picasso uses a musical metaphor, according to which string instruments were a symbol of the perfection of art. The cubist forms of the still life resemble a mandolin, lute or guitar. There is no doubt that this pictorial game parodies the boring debate of Italian academics about which of the arts is the best. Picasso seems to expand the parameters of this dispute. Picasso's painting seems to take on the quality of music.
The artist also strives to convey the texture of the wood from which these musical instruments are made. From here there was a direct path to the art of collage, widely used by Picasso in subsequent periods of creativity.

Having lived almost his entire life in France, Pablo Picasso always remained a Spaniard. It was the blood connection with his homeland - Spain - that gave him the opportunity to feel so keenly and so convincingly, fiercely convey on canvas the entire horror of the tragedy of April 26, 1937, when the Nazis destroyed the city of Guernica in the Basque Country in one night.
In 1936, the Popular Front gave the Basque Country autonomy. Franco, who came to power, abolished it. A city in which unique monuments of antiquity and history have been preserved, a city with two thousand inhabitants was turned into ruins in one night...
It was the tragedy of Guernica that became the theme of a grandiose panel for the Spanish pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris, which the Republican government commissioned from Picasso. The artist completed the panel, measuring 3.5 meters in height and about 8 meters in length, in an incredibly short time - in less than a month. At the beginning of June, the panel exhibited in Paris received worldwide fame.
“Guernica” is the Apocalypse of the 20th century, in the terrible twilight of which a torn horse, a defeated rider, a bull, a mother with a murdered child and a woman holding a lamp in her hand are highlighted. This is not only a statement of a terrible tragedy, but also a premonition of new ones that the Second World War will bring. The panel is elongated and built like a triptych. In its center is a triangle, the vertex of which is a lamp. The composition is precise in its architectonics, which collapses before our eyes, turns into nothingness, into chaos. Instead of the sun, Picasso depicted an electric light bulb. And he replaced the full sound of earthly colors with a strict range of black, gray and white. The images of “Guernica” resemble timeless phantoms and hallucinations. This is a bundle of pain and suffering. Picasso, who thoroughly knew the principles of pictorial systems, used in Guernica elements of linear perspective, the overlay of transparent planes adopted in Cubism, and the dismemberment of volumes that the surrealists loved.
“Guernica” is a prophetic picture, but it contains not only a premonition of terrible catastrophes, but also a beacon of faith. Looking at this panel, I remember the words of Paul Eluard: “Despair fans the fire of hope.”

Portrait of Ambroise Vallor, 1910, Pushkin Museum, Moscow / (Ambroise Vollar - gallery owner, collector, art connoisseur,
friend of artists. The portrait was made in the forms of analytical cubism and was acquired by I. A. Morozov in 1913 from Vollard himself.)

Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with

According to experts, Pablo Picasso is considered the most expensive artist in the world. A few years ago, official sales of his works amounted to $262 million. In addition, Picasso’s creative career is considered one of the longest. It covers almost 80 years, so it is not surprising that during this time the artist gravitated towards experiments - from classicism and naturalism to cubism and surrealism.

website I decided to trace how the handwriting and style of one of the most famous and revered artists of the 20th century changed and what these changes were connected with.

Early period (8–20 years)

Pablo Picasso (whose full name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Martir Patricio Ruiz y Picasso) was born in 1881 in the Andalusian province of Spain. His father was an artist and from an early age instilled in the boy a love of art: he taught the basics of painting and developed his son’s talent in every possible way. Little Pablo began drawing at the age of 3, and at the age of 7 he was already painting in oils. All of Picasso's early works and their color palette are extremely similar to the original - the artist depicts life and people as they are.

The 1896 painting "Portrait of a Mother" (left in the collage above) was painted by the 15-year-old artist in Barcelona while studying at the School of Arts and Crafts.

One of the last works of the early period - "Nana" (in the collage on the right) - was written for Pablo's first exhibition in Paris. At this time he mastered the methods of the Impressionists and imitated them. As a result, critics noted the high skill of the novice artist, but advised him to look for his own style.

"Blue period" (20–24 years)

By the end of 1901, Pablo found his original style and painted works that would later be classified as the so-called “blue period”, since the artist’s color palette was dominated by cold and gloomy shades of blue. The themes of sadness, poverty, old age and death prevail on the canvases of this time, and the heroes of the paintings are alcoholics, prostitutes and people from the lower strata of society.

The fact is that in 1901, a close friend of Picasso committed suicide. The artist felt guilty that he had not prevented the tragedy and was depressed. In addition, during these years Pablo was desperate for money and often went hungry. One of the most famous paintings of the “Blue Period” is considered to be the painting “The Absinthe Drinker” (on the left in the collage above).

Ironically, paintings from this most difficult and hungry period of the artist’s life are sold today at auctions for huge sums of money. For example, the painting "Harlequin's Head" (in the collage on the right) was sold at Sotheby's for $15.2 million.

"Pink period" (23–25 years)

In 1904, Picasso finally moved to Paris. The next two years of his work were called the “pink period” because of the characteristic color palette. At this time, all of Pablo's works are filled with cheerfulness, grace and subtlety. Picasso makes new friends and for the first time in his life falls seriously in love with Fernande Olivier. The lovers live together in his workshop in Montmartre, and life seems wonderful. Soon Pablo has patrons - the writer Gertrude Stein and her brother. They buy paintings from a needy artist, display them in their gallery and introduce him to the circle of Parisian bohemians.

The main characters in Picasso's works are traveling artists, acrobats, circus performers and dancers. In them Pablo sees a lot in common with artists: they are also poor and always stick together.

One of the most famous paintings of the “pink period” is “Girl on a Ball” (on the left in the collage above).

African period (26–28 years)

This short period of the artist’s work is also called “proto-cubic” or “Cézanne”, because Pablo was seriously influenced by the method of Paul Cézanne. Picasso tries to simplify the image as much as possible, as he comes to the conclusion that the basis of any complex shape is always simple geometricism: cube, ball, cylinder, cone.

The subjects of the paintings of that time were inspired by the archaic art of Africa, which the artist saw at an ethnographic exhibition at the Trocadero Museum. For Pablo, simple and even primitive African art became a real discovery, since it carried a huge vital and artistic charge. Ancient sculptures conveyed reality with much greater force than modern European art.

Analytical Cubism (28–31 years old)

Picasso's analytical cubism changed the development of all art of the 20th century. He became the founder of this trend in painting together with the French artist Georges Braque. The philosophy of this style was that painting is capable of more than just depicting what the human eye sees. Pablo is looking for a way to show the world as it is, so he tries to write “not what he sees, but what he knows.”

First, the artist experiments with color: he destroys color, because he believes that it is just an optical illusion. The density of analytical cubism is distinguished by their monochrome. Then Picasso gets rid of the texture of things - scrupulously writing out the details of objects, hairs and wrinkles are no longer relevant.

At this time, Pablo painted quite a few portraits of his beloved Fernanda, in particular the painting “Woman with Pears” (on the collage on the left). It was in these works that he honed his new method of seeing form.

Synthetic Cubism (31–36 years old)

Synthetic cubism is characterized by a change in color: Picasso begins to add bright colors to his paintings. In addition, recognizable objects appear in the canvases: a key, a pipe, a bottle, a glass, a musical instrument. Thus, synthetic cubist paintings become more like collages. Moreover, the artist uses not only paints to create them, but also papier-mâché, newspapers, sheet music and sawdust to give the surface more texture. The most famous was his series of collage canvases “Guitars”.

This period got its name because Picasso synthesizes and unites two realities - artistic and real.

Classicism (36–44 years)

This is a very rich and vibrant period in Pablo’s life and work. At this time, he collaborates with Diaghilev's Russian Ballet, travels to Rome with the troupe and falls in love with the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova. Soon the couple gets married and their son Paulo is born.

The new environment - theater, ballet, travel - require a realistic image, and Picasso abandons cubism in favor of ancient classicism. In addition, the artist now moves in a new respectable environment, for which his wife has a weakness. Olga also demands from her husband that both she and their son be recognizable in his portraits, and Pablo cannot refuse her this request.

Surrealism (44-56 years old)

When Picasso was 45 years old, his relationship with Olga Khokhlova began to deteriorate, and he met 17-year-old Frenchwoman Marie-Therese Walter. The girl became his model and new muse. Also during this period, Pablo communicated a lot with the surrealists, and this direction in painting began to have a huge influence on his work. The transition to surrealism can be described by the expression of the artist himself: “I depict objects the way I think about them, and not the way I see them.”

One of the most striking paintings of that time is considered to be the painting “Women Reading” (on the right in the collage above). It shows Maria Teresa and her sister. The painting was later sold at Sotheby's for $21.3 million.

Late 30s and war (56-64 years)

The premonition of an imminent war in Europe and fears due to the growing forces of fascism and Francoism were also reflected in Picasso’s work. At this time, he created the famous series “Crying Women,” which he dedicated to all the women of that era. His main muse during this period was the artist and photographer Dora Maar - it is she who he most often depicts on his canvases and in her portraits he embodies all the horrors of war.

In 1937, Pablo Picasso painted perhaps his most famous painting, Guernica (pictured below). This is how the artist responds to the Nazi bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica. The canvas became a relevant anti-fascist manifesto, which quickly spread throughout Europe.

Post-war period (65-73 years)

This period in the artist’s life can be called a time of renewal and hope. In the post-war years, Picasso falls in love with the young artist Françoise

There is hardly a person on the planet who is not familiar with the name Pablo Picasso. The founder of Cubism and an artist of many styles influenced the fine arts of not only Europe, but the whole world in the 20th century.

Artist Pablo Picasso: childhood and years of study

One of the brightest was born in Malaga, in a house on Merced Square, in 1881, on October 25. Nowadays there is a museum and foundation named after P. Picasso. Following the Spanish tradition at baptism, the parents gave the boy a fairly long name, which is an alternation of the names of saints and the closest and most revered relatives in the family. Ultimately, he is known by the very first and the last. Pablo decided to take his mother’s surname, considering his father’s to be too simple. The boy's talent and passion for drawing manifested itself from early childhood. The first and very valuable lessons were taught to him by his father, who was also an artist. His name was Jose Ruiz. He painted his first serious painting at the age of eight - “Picador”. We can safely say that it was with her that the work of Pablo Picasso began. The father of the future artist received an offer to work as a teacher in La Coruña in 1891, and the family soon moved to northern Spain. There, Pablo studied for a year at a local art school. Then the family moved to one of the most beautiful cities - Barcelona. Young Picasso was 14 years old at the time, and too young to study at La Lonja (the school of fine arts). However, his father was able to ensure that he was allowed to take the entrance exams on a competitive basis, which he did brilliantly. After another four years, his parents decided to enroll him in the best advanced art school at that time - “San Fernando” in Madrid. Studying at the academy quickly bored the young talent; in its classical canons and rules he felt cramped and even bored. Therefore, he devoted more time to the Prado Museum and studying its collections, and a year later he returned to Barcelona. The early period of his work includes paintings painted in 1986: “Self-Portrait” by Picasso, “First Communion” (it depicts the artist’s sister Lola), “Portrait of a Mother” (pictured below).

During his stay in Madrid, he made his first trip where he studied all the museums and the paintings of the greatest masters. Subsequently, he would come to this center of world art several times, and in 1904 he would move permanently.

"Blue" period

This time period can be seen as precisely at this time, his individuality, still subject to outside influence, begins to manifest itself in Picasso’s work. It is a well-known fact: the talent of creative people manifests itself most clearly in difficult life situations. This is exactly what happened with Pablo Picasso, whose works are now known throughout the world. The takeoff was provoked and occurred after a long depression caused by the death of a close friend, Carlos Casagemas. In 1901, at an exhibition organized by Vollard, 64 works by the artist were presented, but at that time they were still full of sensuality and brightness, the influence of the Impressionists was clearly felt. The “blue” period of his work gradually entered into its rightful rights, manifesting itself with rigid contours of figures and a loss of three-dimensionality of the image, a departure from the classical laws of artistic perspective. The palette of colors on his canvases is becoming more and more monotonous, with an emphasis on blue. The beginning of the period can be considered “Portrait of Jaime Sabartes” and Picasso’s self-portrait, painted in 1901.

Paintings of the "blue" period

The key words for the master during this period were loneliness, fear, guilt, pain. In 1902 he returned to Barcelona again, but could not stay there. The tense situation in the capital of Catalonia, poverty on all sides and social injustice result in popular unrest, which gradually engulfed not only all of Spain, but also Europe. Probably, this state of affairs also influenced the artist, who works fruitfully and extremely hard this year. In the homeland, masterpieces of the “blue” period were created: “Two Sisters (Date)”, “Old Jew with a Boy”, “Tragedy” (photo of the canvas above), “Life”, where the image of the deceased Casagemas once again appears. In 1901, the painting “The Absinthe Drinker” was also painted. It traces the influence of the then popular fascination with “vicious” characters, characteristic of French art. The theme of absinthe appears in many paintings. Picasso's work, among other things, is full of drama. The woman’s hypertrophied hand, with which she seems to be trying to defend herself, is especially striking. Currently, “The Absinthe Lover” is kept in the Hermitage, having got there from a private and very impressive collection of works by Picasso (51 works) by S. I. Shchukin after the revolution.

As soon as the opportunity arises to go to Spain again, he decides to take advantage of it and leaves Spain in the spring of 1904. It was there that he would encounter new interests, sensations and impressions, which would give rise to a new stage in his creativity.

"Pink" period

In Picasso's work, this stage lasted a relatively long time - from 1904 (autumn) until the end of 1906 - and was not entirely homogeneous. Most of the paintings of the period are marked by a light range of colors, the appearance of ocher, pearl-gray, red-pink tones. Characteristic is the emergence and subsequent dominance of new themes for the artist’s work - actors, circus performers and acrobats, athletes. Of course, the overwhelming majority of the material was provided to him by the Medrano Circus, which in those years was located at the foot of Montmartre. The bright theatrical setting, costumes, behavior, variety of types seemed to return P. Picasso to the world of, albeit transformed, but real forms and volumes, natural space. The images in his paintings again became sensual and filled with life and brightness, as opposed to the characters of the “blue” stage of creativity.

Pablo Picasso: works of the “pink” period

The paintings that marked the beginning of a new period were first exhibited at the end of winter 1905 at the Serurrier Gallery - these are “Seated Nude” and “Actor”. One of the recognized masterpieces of the “pink” period is “A Family of Comedians” (pictured above). The canvas has impressive dimensions - more than two meters in height and width. The figures of circus performers are depicted against the background of a blue sky; it is generally accepted that the harlequin on the right side is Picasso himself. All the characters are static, and there is no internal closeness between them; each is shackled by internal loneliness - the theme of the entire “pink” period. In addition, it is worth noting the following works by Pablo Picasso: “Woman in a Shirt”, “Toilet”, “Boy Leading a Horse”, “Acrobats. Mother and Son", "Girl with a Goat". All of them demonstrate to the viewer beauty and serenity, rare for the artist’s paintings. A new impetus for creativity occurred at the end of 1906, when Picasso traveled through Spain and ended up in a small village in the Pyrenees.

African creative period

P. Picasso first encountered archaic African art at a thematic exhibition at the Trocadero Museum. He was impressed by pagan idols of primitive form, exotic masks and figurines that embodied the great power of nature and were distanced from the smallest details. The artist’s ideology coincided with this powerful message, and as a result, he began to simplify his heroes, making them like stone idols, monumental and sharp. However, the first work in the direction of this style appeared back in 1906 - this is a portrait by Pablo Picasso of the writer. He rewrote the picture 80 times and had already completely lost faith in the possibility of embodying her image in the classical style. This moment can rightly be called transitional from following nature to deformation of form. Just look at such paintings as “Nude Woman”, “Dance with Veils”, “Dryad”, “Friendship”, “Bust of a Sailor”, “Self-Portrait”.

But perhaps the most striking example of the African stage of Picasso’s work is the painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (pictured above), on which the master worked for about a year. It crowned this stage of the artist’s creative path and largely determined the fate of art as a whole. The painting was first published only thirty years after it was painted and became an open door to the world of the avant-garde. The bohemian circle of Paris literally split into two camps: “for” and “against”. The painting is currently kept in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Cubism in the works of Picasso

The problem of uniqueness and accuracy of the image remained in the first place in European fine art until the moment when cubism burst into it. Many consider the impetus for its development to be a question that arose among artists: “Why draw?” At the beginning of the 20th century, a reliable image of what you see could be taught to almost anyone, and photography was literally on the heels of photography, which threatened to completely displace everything else. Visual images become not only believable, but also accessible and easily replicated. Pablo Picasso's cubism in this case reflects the individuality of the creator, abandoning a plausible image of the outside world and opening up completely new possibilities and boundaries of perception.

Early works include: “Pot, glass and book”, “Bathing”, “Bouquet of flowers in a gray jug”, “Bread and a bowl of fruit on the table”, etc. The canvases clearly show how the artist’s style changes and acquires increasingly abstract features towards the end of the period (1918-1919). For example, “Harlequin”, “Three Musicians”, “Still Life with a Guitar” (pictured above). The audience’s association of the master’s work with abstractionism did not suit Picasso at all; the very emotional message of the paintings, their hidden meaning, was important to him. Ultimately, the style of cubism that he himself created gradually ceased to inspire and interest the artist, opening the way for new trends in creativity.

Classical period

The second decade of the 20th century was quite difficult for Picasso. Thus, 1911 was marked by the story of stolen figurines from the Louvre, which did not show the artist in the best light. In 1914, it became clear that, even after living in the country for so many years, Picasso was not ready to fight for France in the First World War, which separated him from many of his friends. And the following year his beloved Marcelle Humbert died.

The return of a more realistic Pablo Picasso in his work, whose works were again filled with readability, figurativeness and artistic logic, was also influenced by many external factors. Including a trip to Rome, where he became imbued with ancient art, as well as communication with Diaghilev’s ballet troupe and meeting the ballerina Olga Khokhlova, who soon became the artist’s second wife. Her portrait of 1917, which was in some way experimental in nature, can be considered the beginning of a new period. Russian ballet Pablo Picasso not only inspired the creation of new masterpieces, but also gave his beloved and long-awaited son. The most famous works of the period: “Olga Khokhlova” (pictured above), “Pierrot”, “Still Life with a Jug and Apples”, “Sleeping Peasants”, “Mother and Child”, “Women Running on the Beach”, “The Three Graces” .

Surrealism

The division of creativity is nothing more than the desire to sort it into shelves and squeeze it into a certain (stylistic, time) framework. However, this approach to the work of Pablo Picasso, who adorns the best museums and galleries in the world, can be called very conditional. If we follow the chronology, then the period when the artist was close to surrealism falls on the years 1925-1932. It is not at all surprising that at every stage of the master’s work, a muse visited the master of the brush, and when O. Khokhlova wanted to recognize herself in his canvases, he turned to neoclassicism. However, creative people are fickle, and soon the young and very beautiful Maria Teresa Walter, who was only 17 years old at the time of their acquaintance, entered Picasso’s life. She was destined for the role of a mistress, and in 1930 the artist bought a castle in Normandy, which became a home for her and a workshop for him. Maria Teresa was a faithful companion, steadfastly enduring the creative and loving tossing of the creator, maintaining friendly correspondence until the death of Pablo Picasso. Works from the period of surrealism: “Dance”, “Woman in a Chair” (in the photo below), “Bather”, “Nude on the Beach”, “Dream”, etc.

World War II period

Picasso's sympathy during the war in Spain in 1937 belonged to the Republicans. When in the same year Italian and German aircraft destroyed Guernica - the political and cultural center of the Basques - Pablo Picasso depicted the city lying in ruins on a huge canvas of the same name in just two months. He was literally gripped by horror from the threat that hung over all of Europe, which could not but affect his creativity. Emotions were not expressed directly, but were embodied in the tone, its gloom, bitterness and sarcasm.

After the wars died down and the world came into relative balance, restoring everything that had been destroyed, Picasso’s work also acquired happier and brighter colors. His canvases, painted in 1945-1955, have a Mediterranean flavor, are very atmospheric and partly idealistic. At the same time, he began to work with ceramics, creating many decorative jugs, dishes, plates, and figurines (photo shown above). The works that were created in the last 15 years of his life are very uneven in style and quality.

One of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, Pablo Picasso, died at the age of 91 at his villa in France. He was buried near the Vovenart castle that belonged to him.

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, full name - Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martir Patricio Ruiz y Picasso (in Russian the variant with the blow is also accepted French style of Picasso, Spanish Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Mártir Patricio Ruiz y Picasso; October 25, 1881 (18811025), Malaga, Spain - April 8, 1973, Mougins, France) - Spanish and French artist, sculptor, graphic artist, theater artist, ceramicist and designer.

The founder of cubism (together with Georges Braque and Juan Gris), in which a three-dimensional body was depicted in an original manner as a series of planes combined together. Picasso worked a lot as a graphic artist, sculptor, ceramist, etc. He brought to life a lot of imitators and had an exceptional influence on the development of fine art in the 20th century. According to the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Picasso created about 20 thousand works during his life.

According to expert estimates, Picasso is the most “expensive” artist in the world: in 2008, official sales of his works alone amounted to $262 million. On May 4, 2010, Picasso's painting Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, sold at Christie's for $106,482,000, became the most expensive work of art in the world at that time.

On May 11, 2015, at the Christie's auction, a new absolute record was set for works of art sold at public auction - Pablo Picasso's painting "Algerian Women (Version O)" went for a record $179,365,000.

According to the results of a survey of 1.4 million readers conducted by The Times newspaper in 2009, Picasso is the best artist who has lived in the last 100 years. Also, his paintings rank first in “popularity” among thieves.

According to Spanish tradition, Picasso received two surnames from the first surnames of his parents: his father - Ruiz and his mother - Picasso. The full name that the future artist received at baptism is Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano (Crispiniano) de la Santisima Trinidad Martir Patricio Ruiz and Picasso. Picasso's maternal surname, under which the artist became famous, is of Italian origin: Picasso's mother's great-grandfather Tommaso moved to Spain at the beginning of the 19th century from the town of Sori in the province of Genoa. The house in Malaga's Merced Square, where Picasso was born, now houses the artist's house-museum and a foundation bearing his name.

Picasso began drawing from childhood; he received his first artistic lessons from his father, the art teacher José Ruiz Blasco, and soon became very successful at it. At the age of 8, he painted his first serious oil painting, “Picador,” which he did not part with throughout his life.

In 1891, Don José received a position as an art teacher in A Coruña, and young Pablo and his family moved to northern Spain, where he studied at the local art school (1894-1895).

The family subsequently moved to Barcelona, ​​and in 1895 Picasso entered the La Lonja School of Fine Arts. Pablo was only fourteen, so he was too young to enter La Lonja. However, at the insistence of his father, he was allowed to take entrance exams on a competitive basis. Picasso passed all the exams with flying colors and entered La Lonja. At first he signed with his father's name, Ruiz Blasco, but then chose his mother's surname, Picasso.

At the beginning of October 1897, Picasso left for Madrid, where he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Picasso used his stay in Madrid mainly for detailed study of the collection of the Prado Museum, and not for studying at the academy with its classical traditions, where Picasso was cramped and bored.

This is part of a Wikipedia article used under the CC-BY-SA license. Full text of the article here →

As an artist, Picasso used a wide range of creative styles, including cubism, abstract art, neoclassicism, surrealism and expressionism.

Picasso's early works date from 1901 and 1904, now called " blue period" They convey dark themes of poverty and despair, painted in monochrome blues and depicting elongated, twisted bodies with distorted features. However, in 1905, Picasso redirected his attention to other subjects, depicting harlequins and other carnival characters in bright shades of red and pink. Now this time is called " pink period».

By the early 1930s, Picasso was increasingly immersed in the Cubist style, which is evident in all of his works, turning to bolder colors and more complex contours. All this appeals to surreal, biomorphic motifs. His artistic innovation allowed him to continue to produce many works through which he gained fame and fortune. Many of his works have received a place in the ranking of the most expensive paintings in the world. Picasso left behind a huge artistic legacy, which is still discussed and continues to excite the art world.

let's consider 10 most expensive and talked about paintings by Pablo Picasso.

10. “In the Cabaret “The Agile Rabbit” or Harlequin with a Glass” (1904): $40.7 million

Harlequins and circus performers, presented in brighter and more cheerful colors, are very different from the melancholic " blue period» Picasso. " Harlequin with a glass"was originally created to decorate a bar in Montmartre.

There were rumors that the artist painted the picture in exchange for free food in the famous cabaret of Paris. When it was finished, Picasso showed the work to Freda, a cabaret owner, who then sold the painting for $20 in 1912. In 1952, the work was acquired by collector Joan Whitney Payson. Then the painting cost $60,000. The work was eventually sold at Sotheby's for $40.7 million.

9. Reading (1932): $40.7 million

This oil portrait depicts Picasso's lover and muse, Marie Therese Walter, falling asleep with a book on her lap. Picasso met seventeen-year-old Marie in 1927, when she was leaving the Paris metro, then they began a love affair, which they kept secret due to the difference in age, and was hampered by the fact that Picasso was married to Olga Khokhlova at the time.

Then, seeing facial features that were not hers in the artist’s works, Olga realized that her husband was having an affair, and the marriage soon fell apart. Picasso painted " Reading"from December 1931 to January 1932, researchers call this time " madly in love period" The painting was sold at Sotheby's in 2011 for $40.7 million; the buyer chose to remain anonymous.

8. Self-portrait “I, Picasso” (1901): $47.9 million

This self-portrait of Picasso, dated 1901, refer to " blue period y". Although the artist had difficulty selling his paintings at that time, he had already gained popularity. In 1981, at Sotheby's auction it went to the famous collector Wendell Cherry for $5.8 million.

When Cherry auctioned it again in 1989, it sold for $43.5 million plus 10% promised by Sotheby's, for a total of $47.9 million.

7. The Dream (1932): $48.4 million

Marie Therese Walter also becomes the main character of this picture. The scene is reminiscent of Reading", another work from this series, the artist once again captured his muse and lover sleeping in a chair. The painting is known for its erotic content, as well as an unfortunate incident in 2006, when the owner of the Christie's auction house accidentally put his hand on the work, which reduced the value to $85 million.

While the owner was planning to sell it for $139 million before this incident, he decided not to auction the painting and took it back. Thus, " Dream" remains in the gallery " Wynn Collection" and to this day.

6. Woman Sitting in a Garden (1938): $49.5 million

By this time, Picasso became interested and began experimenting with Cubism. This 1938 painting depicts Dora Maar in the garden. The French artist, photographer and poet was famous for being Picasso's lover. The portrait is a work executed in the distinct style of Cubism, an avant-garde movement of the early 20th century that Picasso contributed much to promoting.

It is known that the artist completed this famous work within a day. The painting remained in the private collection of cellist and composer Daniel Seidenberg until his death in 1997. In 1999, the work was sold at Sotheby's for $49.5 million.

5. Pierrette's Wedding (1905): $51.3 million

This painting by Picasso, dated 1905, belongs to " blue period" The monochrome color palette with shades of blue gives the work a moody feel. The scene itself contrasts with shades: a festive mood is depicted, Harlequin admires the bride. The presence of blurred elements in the background suggests that the painting may not be finished, although researchers say the opposite.

Art dealer Joseph Stransky, a friend of Picasso, received the painting in 1907. However, between 1945 and 1962, it came into the possession of Paulo Picasso, the artist's son. Financier Frederic Rousse bought the work and presented it as a gift to the French government. In 1989, the painting eventually went to auction and was sold for $51.3 million.

4. Woman with Crossed Arms (1902): $55 million

This one refers to " blue period» Picasso. The heroine of the picture was allegedly a patient at the Saint-Lazare prison hospital in Paris. Gertrude Stein, a writer and art collector, was one of the owners of this painting. Picasso also painted a portrait of Gertrude herself in 1906.

In 1936 " Woman with crossed arms"went into the possession of collector Chauncey McCormick and remained there until 2000. At this time, it was put up for auction at Christie's, where it was bought by an anonymous buyer for $55 million.

3. Dora Maar with the Cat (1941): $95.2 million

The subject of this iconic 1941 painting is surrealist photographer Dora Maar, one of Picasso's most famous muses and lovers. depicts Dora sitting in a chair while a small black cat stands behind her. The painting demonstrates Picasso's brilliant use of bold and vibrant colors, as well as the Cubist style.

For example, the combination of patterns on Dora's dress adds drama to the pose and the overall calm of the painting. Picasso often viewed Dora as " your own muse" In 1963, the painting was sold to a private collection. It was eventually auctioned off at Sotheby's in 2006 and sold for $95.2 million.

2. Boy with a Pipe (1905): $104 million

This portrait shows a boy wearing a crown of roses and holding a pipe in his hand. The colors used in the painting show that it belongs to " rose period"when the artist preferred to use cheerful orange and pink shades, different from gloomy and cold colors" blue period».

John Whitney, the American ambassador to Great Britain, was the first to purchase the work in 1950 for $30,000. The painting remained in Whitney's private collection until 2004. By that time, Whitney's wife had founded the charitable foundation " Green Tree"after John's death in 1982. In 2004, the painting was auctioned at Sotheby's and sold for $104 million, exceeding experts' preliminary estimate.

1. “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” (1932): $106.5 million

This most prized Picasso depicts the artist's muse and lover, Marie Therese Walter, in the nude. Her bust is a sculpture that Picasso sculpted in 1931. The artist painted the picture in one day, and this the work represents a successful stage in his career. The painting is on the list of the most expensive items sold at auctions.

Picasso had perfected his skills by this time and therefore began to use symbolism in his work. In 1952, collectors bought the painting for $17,000 and it remained in a private collection until 2010, when it was sold at Christie's for $106.5 million.