A Quick Guide to Pablo Picasso Barcelona

Pablo Piccaso Artwork in Barcelona

Five fun facts about Piccaso

1. His first word was “piz” which is the Spanish word for “pencil”.
2. At the age of 9 he completed his first painting called “Le picador”, which illustrated a man riding a horse in a bullfight.
3. It’s no doubt Picasso was an amazing artist, unfortunately he was a terrible student and spent a lot of time in detention.This seemed to work out in his favour since he would just sit on a bench drawing while he was “banished” from class.
4. Picasso was a suspect for stealing the Mona Lisa in 1911. After questioning he was found not guilty.
5. Picasso’s iconic shirt is known as a Breton-striped shirt. The 21 horizontal stripes on this shirt represent each of Napoleon’s victories.

The Early Days

Picasso was born on 25 October 1881 to a middle class family, in Málaga, Andalusia,located in southern Spain.He was the first born child. His father was a painter who specialized in realistic paintings of birds. For the majority of his life, his father was a professor of art at The School of Crafts and curator at a local museum. So you can say he was influenced artistically from a very young age.

Picasso had a passion and a skill for drawing from a very young age. Starting at age seven he began receiving formal art training from his father. The training was based around drawing and oil paintings. His dad was an academic artist who really believed in formal training and discipline when it came to the art world. Picasso was so preoccupied with his artwork that his classwork started to lack precedence.

Teenage Years

In 1981 the family moved to A Coruña. His father became a professor at the School of Fine Arts. They lived here for almost four years. One time, his father found a thirteen year old Picasso painting over his unfinished sketch of a pigeon. After observing the technique and precision he realzied that his son has surpassed his artistic talents.

At that moment his father vowed never to paint again. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case and his father began painting again years later.
When he was sixteen he set off for the first time on his own to attend art school. He disliked the technical style and stopped attending school and cancelled his enrollment shortly after.

Picasso’s Career

Picasso had extraordinary artistic talent early on. He specialized in painting in a naturalistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style began to shift as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. After 1906, the Fauvist style of the artist Henri Matisse inspired Picasso to explore a more radical style.

There was a fruitful rivalry between the two artists. They were often referred to by critics as the “leaders of modern art”.

People often categorize Picasso’s work into periods. The following are the most common periods

• The Blue Period (1901–1904)- He only used warm blue and green colours in this period.
• The Rose Period (1904–1906)- Mostly oranges and pinks were used in this period. He used stylish but lighter tones. The main theme was based around circus characters.
• The African Influenced Period (1907–1909)- The painting that began this period is called “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” He was heavily influenced by African artefacts he had seen prior to this painting.
• Analytic Cubism (1909–1912)- Georges Braque and Picasso teamed up to create this style together. They used browns and other neutral colours. Both artists broke down objects and “analyzed” them focusing on their shapes. Picasso and Braque’s paintings from that time period were very similar.
• Synthetic Cubism AKA The Crystal Period (1912–1919)-This was a different style of cubism. He cut paper fragments such as wallpaper or pieces of newspaper pages. This period brought forward the first colleges in the fine arts world.

Most of Picasso’s work of the late 1910’s and early 1920’s is known as a neoclassical style. His work in the mid 1920’s shows some hints of Surrealism. Eventually he went back to his earlier style and this really shows in his later work.

Picasso’s Personal Life

Picasso married a ballerina named Olga Khokhlova in the summer of 1918. After his honeymoon and in desperate need of money, Picasso began his exclusive business relationship with a French-Jewish art dealer named Paul Rosenberg. Rosenberg agreed to rent an apartment to the newlywed couple at his own expense in Paris. The two shared a deep brother-like friendship that lasted until the outbreak of World War II.

In 1927, Picasso met 17-year-old Marie-Thérèse Walter and they began a secret affair. Picasso remained married to Khokhlova. Soon after it ended in separation rather than divorce. French law required an even division of property and wealth in the case of divorce.Picasso did not want to share half of his assets. The two remained legally married until Khokhlova passed away in 1955. Picasso and Marie-Thérèse Walter had a daughter together named Maya. The two never married.

Picasso died on April 8th 1973 in Mougins, France, from pulmonary edema and heart failure.Marie-Thérèse hanged herself four years after Picasso’s death.

Where did Picasso drink in Barcelona

This article would not be complete without telling you about one of the most famous places that Picasso use to frequent and is still around today for you to visit and that is Els Quatre Gats it was a well known artist meeting spot back in Picasso’s day and where he use to go daily!

Now it is a little more touristy and serves highy regarded catalan food it is definetly worth a visit while you are in Barcelona.

Where can I see Pablo Piccaso art in Barcelona!

Picasso Museeum

If you want to see work by Pablo Piccaso in Barcelona head to the Museu Picasso right in the centre of Barcelona located in the El Born area.

Opening times

Tuesday – Sunday 10AM – 7PM

Picasso museum website

This Museum is intense with over 4000 peices of Piccaso’s work on display here, there is more than enough to go around!

The museum also dives into the Picasso’s deep connection with Barcelona

Price

The admission price is 12 euros per person. Students and senior citizens do get a discount

If you are covered by the following criteria you can enter for free.
-Under 18 year-olds
-Duly accredited members of the ICOM
-Duly accredited members of the Associació de Museòlegs de Catalunya
-Duly accredited journalists
-The visits arranged by prior appointment of duly accredited university groups. Email to request an appointment: museupicasso_reserves@bcn.cat

See website for more details Picasso Museum price information

Pablo Picasso Frieze

If you dont wanrt to go to a mussem or more imporantly dont want to pay the entrance fee you can catch a little of pablo picasso for free you can find a great frieze made of sand. Designed by Pablo Picasso and made by the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar. It is just around the corner from Cathedral de Barcelona and is on the front of the building of the The Architects’ College (COAC)