Biography

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in 1881 in Málaga, Spain, as the son of the painter and drawing teacher José Ruiz Blasco and his wife Maria Picasso y Lopez. Four years after moving to La Coruna in 1891, the family went to Barcelona, as his father was called to teach at the La Lonja Academy of Art. Picasso's first major paintings were already created at this time: 'The First Communion' and 'Science and Charity' can be seen today in the Museu Picasso in Barcelona. Furthermore, Picasso began to deal with the theme of bullfighting. In 1897, the young artist began studying painting at the Academy San Fernando in Madrid, the first group exhibition was held in 1900 with the group of artists 'El Quatre Gats' (the four cats), which included Jaime Sabartès and Carles Casagemas, who won Picasso as a member in 1899. In 1900 he was able to publish some illustrations through newspapers in Barcelona and traveled to Paris with Casagemas on the occasion of the World's Fair. There he lived in an artist's studio in Montmartre and came into contact with the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, whom he admired and by whom he was particularly influenced in his choice of motifs. Toulouse-Lautrec not only dealt with the dazzling make-believe world of Parisian nightlife, but also treated subjects that depicted the outsiders of society such as circus performers, prostitutes, and bohemian misfits. The two artists shared a similar career and an orientation towards common models such as Ingres, Degas or El Greco, but they were especially similar in a veritable drawing frenzy that filled countless sketchbooks and was constantly executed with the intention of re-creation, reflection and as preparatory drawings for paintings.

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Objects by Pablo Picasso