pablo picasso

cubism and modern art was not scientific or intellectual, they were visual and came from the eye of one of the greatest geniuses in art history, Pablo Picasso. hes early works were strikingly realistic drawings of ancient sculptures. he was influenced by Manet, Gustave Courbet and Toulouse Lautrec for there sketchy style of art, whilst visiting France. before he got involved in cubism he got involved in very different art movements such as: realism, Caricature, the blue period - which dates 1901 - 1904, where they use a blue pallet and focus on outcasts, beggars and prostitutes. the rose period - began around 1904, when Picasso's pallet brightened, the paintings dominated by pinks, beiges, light blues and roses. hes focus in the rose period were circus people, harlequins and clowns. all of these objects seem to be mute and strangely inactive. he then started art work with large male and female figures seen frontally or in distinct profile, a lot like early Greek art. another great influence was Henri Matisse for hes weird and shocking style of art. he then looked at Iberian sculptures (African art) and Gauguin sculptures, he then took upon himself to simplify the forms of these sculptures and turn it into a weird portrait of Gertrude stein. Gertrude complained about the portrait saying "i don't look at all like that", Picasso replied "you will, Gertrude, you will". this unique portrait was the birth of cubism.

 Picasso carried on with these cubist paintings, but was afraid to show them, he only viewed hes art to a small circle of friends until 1916, long after the early cubist paintings, cubism was there to view three dimensional forms into flat areas of pattern and color overlapping and intertwining so that the shapes are seen from the front and back at the same time. the style was created by Picasso and hes great friend Georges Braque. at the time it was difficult to tell the two artists apart. Picasso and Braque was so close, Picasso called Braque hes wife, because the friendship was strong, and described it as a relationship as two mountaineers roped together. every progressive artist took up on cubism, and this art movement was the dominant art movement of at least the first half of the 20th century. he modified the art movement by adding pieces stuck on to the canvas, contrasting with the paint, this was called synthetic cubism. a good example of synthetic cubism was the guitar

the most accomplished pictures of the fully developed synthetic cubist style are two complex and highly colorful works representing musicians. at the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, the director of the Prado, in 1937, Picasso was asked by the republican government to paint a mural for the Spanish pavilion in Paris.