Pablo Picasso is known as the pioneer of the avant-garde art movement known as Cubism; a modern art (almost surrealist) style which involves objects being broken up, analysed, and re-assembled in an abstract form. Not only is he known for this art style, but he should also be remembered as an ‘Icon Breaker’. Picasso made it a mission to break from the traditional; not interested in pleasuring the viewer, but trying to get to the core of the person in the painting.
Traditionally, art often depicted a man on a horse, nudes and the classic portraits; but for Picasso, well, let’s look at some examples.
In 1906 Picasso painted “Boy Leading a Horse”. Most traditional paintings of a man with his horse depict a symbol of power and a man demanding respect; Picasso’s painting did the opposite.
The ever popular nude was another target for Picasso. In a nude the woman is a simple of grace and beauty, but the 1907’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” showed five nude female prostitutes from a brothel, each woman, in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none are conventionally feminine.
When it came to the traditional Portrait, Picasso often painted in the cubism style and painted how he saw his subject. As depicted in paintings like the 1910’s “Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler”.
So what changed for Picasso that turned him from the “Icon Breaker” into an “Icon Maker”?
Find out next week…
I must admit not liking Picasso’s work. Are you a fan? It seems he is often one that people either love or hate, with little opinion in between.
Am looking forward to your next post on him. Like your little teaser.
I’ve never been a fan but I respect what he did for modern art
I appreciate Picasso’s art only because it makes me think more than simple representational art. It makes the viewer wonder what the artist was thinking, why he depicted objects in the way he did.
I often wonder if he was just a surrealist at heart.
I’m not really a fan of picasso either. Especially the cubist stuff. It makes me wonder if he needed glasses or something, if that’s how he was seeing things. I don’t get it. But he obviously did amazing things for the art scene, so I’ll probably check out his stuff while in Spain.
It would be well worth checking out.
Wow this really helped my Art prep! thanks so much 🙂
I really like Picasso. I think he produced great work. True its probably not what people would put on their walls, but if they were to…I bet they would find themselves staring at the paintings for quite some time….