Today, the outstanding artist Pablo Picasso would have turned 132 years old

We all know the most famous artist and one of the most peculiar geniuses of his time, Pablo Picasso. The master's work had a tremendous impact on the development of art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In honor of his 132nd birthday, I suggest you take a look at some rather curious facts from the life of the genius.




Newborn Picasso saved by cigar smoke

The birth was difficult, and the baby was born so weak that the midwife considered him stillborn. She left it on the table and went to tell her mother the bad news. The child was saved by luck - his uncle, Don Salvador, was smoking cigars, and when he saw the baby lying on the table, he blew smoke in his face. The newborn grimaced and began to cry. If it were not for smoking, Pablo Picasso might not have been born as a famous artist.

Left: Pablo Picasso, 1886, right: Pablo Picasso with his sister Lola, 1889



The first word was "pencil"

Little Pablo learned to draw before he could speak, and his first word was the word "pencil" (piz, short for lapiz, which means "pencil" in Spanish). When the boy turned 7, his father, an artist and art professor, began to teach him drawing. He soon saw that his son was superior to him in this art and vowed to give up painting. Picasso passed the entrance exams to the art school in Barcelona in one day, while everyone else took them for a month.

Left: Pablo Picasso at the age of 15, 1896, right: archival photo of Picasso at the age of 23, 1904



First drawings

At the age of 9, Picasso painted his first finished drawing, "Le picador", depicting a rider on a horse participating in a bullfight. Pablo finished his first "academic", that is, a completely adult picture, at the age of 15. It is called "First Communion," and depicts his father, mother, and sister near the altar.

Left: "Picador", right: "First Communion"



Picasso is an insufferable student

At the school where he studied, Pablo was often placed in a special isolation cell - "calaboose" for his disgusting attitude towards teachers. It was a room with white walls and a bench to sit and reflect on your behavior. The future artist used this "confinement" for drawing, where no one distracted him. According to the artist, he would like to never leave this room, and draw, draw.

Modigliani, Picasso, and André Salmon in front of the Café Rotonda, Paris, 1916



Passion for women.

None of the great artists had as many affairs and lovers as Pablo Picasso had. He needed women like air, they kept the fire of his talent alive.

Pablo Picasso, his first love Fernanda Olivier and Jaquin Reventos, Barcelona, 1906



Picasso and his first wife, ballerina Olga Khokhlova, against the background of the poster of the ballet Parade, 1917



Picasso met Marie-Thérèse Walter at the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. It was she who became the model for his painting Le Rêve - "Dream", one of Picasso's most famous masterpieces. The painting was painted within one day.
In 2006, casino owner Steve Wynn agreed to sell the canvas for $139 million, but inadvertently elbowed the canvas through before the deal was finalized.

Left: Marie-Therese Walter with her mother's dog, 1932



When Picasso met Françoise Gilot, she was 21, and he was forty years older. She was the only woman who left him herself, left to live: to become a famous artist, to raise children.

Left: Picasso with Françoise Gilot, 1941, right: their two children, Claude and Paloma Picasso, 1951



Picasso and his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, dance in front of the painting "Bathers", 1957



The most expensive painting

"Boy with a pipe". Sold for $104 million, May 4, 2004

The painting was painted in the Bateau-Lavoir hostel in Montmartre by the 24-year-old Picasso, during the so-called "rose period" of his work. It depicts an unknown boy with a pipe in his left hand and a crown of roses on his head.



How Picasso invented cubism

Left: "The Guitarist", 1910, Picasso's painting in the style of cubism, right: "Portrait of Dora Maar", 1938



In 1909, Pablo Picasso and the French painter Georges Braque came up with a new art movement known as Cubism. To be more precise, it was invented by the French critic Louis Vauxcelles, who was the first to call the works "bizarre cubiques", or cubism, noting that Picasso's works are "full of small cubes".

Picasso is not only an artist

Although he gained fame for his paintings, Picasso experimented with sculpture, ceramics, and graphics. He even designed the curtain, scenery, and costumes for several ballet productions. Picasse wrote poetry and became the author of two plays.

Sculpture "Chicago Picasso", made by him in 1967



Picasso Machine

Not exactly his car, but a car in his style. Mechanic Andy Saunders from Dorset, England, spent six months tuning his old Citroen 2CV in a cubist style. Sanders calls this car the "Citroen Picasso."



The Secret of Craftsmanship

One day, at a local bazaar, a woman approached Pablo Picasso and handed him a piece of paper.
"Mr. Picasso," she said excitedly, "I am a great fan of yours. Could you draw something for me?
Picasso gladly agreed and quickly captured his work of art on this sheet. With a smile, he returned the paper to the woman and said:
"It's going to cost a million dollars.
"But Mr. Picasso," the woman exclaimed in amazement, "you spent only 30 seconds to paint this miniature masterpiece!
"Kind woman," Picasso grinned in response, "I spent 30 years to paint this masterpiece in 30 seconds.



Source: www.adme.ru