Media & Arts

Pablo Picasso

An art teacher's son burning drawings for warmth in Paris; died the century's richest painter.

Born: 1881 · Málaga, Spain
Roots: Spanish, from Andalusia
Family: Middle class; His father taught drawing and trained him from age seven; by family account, he handed the boy his brushes and gave up painting when Pablo was thirteen.
Education: Barcelona and Madrid academies (left both)
Started with: A father's brushes; Trained by his art-teacher father from seven; admitted to Barcelona's academy at thirteen.
Affiliations & societies: French Communist PartyDocumented; Joined in 1944 and remained a member until his death; painted the peace dove for its congresses.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1900 · age 19
Paris, broke
Shares a freezing studio and burns drawings for warmth; his friend Casagemas's suicide starts the Blue Period.
1907 · age 25
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Even friends are appalled; with Braque, cubism follows.
1937 · age 55
Guernica
Painted in weeks for the Spanish pavilion after the bombing; he bars its return to Spain until democracy.
1944 · age 62
Joins the Communist Party
Weeks after the liberation of Paris.
1955 · age 73
The most expensive living artist
A status he holds for the rest of his life.
1973 · age 91
Dies at Mougins
Roughly 45,000 works are inventoried in the estate.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.