Why is picasso famous

Finally, after weeks of searching the city, authorities brought in two suspects: a poet named Guillaume Apollinaire and a young artist named Pablo Picasso. While the two bohemians weren't saints, they certainly did not steal the Mona Lisa.

The reason the French authorities went after them was because it became known that Apollinaire's assistant had stolen two African sculptures from the Louvre, and these works of art were gifted to Picasso. According to Norman Mailer's book, Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man , during the court hearing, Picasso was so shattered that he broke down and cried, marking one of the most humiliating moments of his life. Eventually, the judge let both men free.

Years later, in , the painting was finally found in an Italian home. The welcome news was short-lived, however, as the First World War broke out a few days later. Picasso was extremely superstitious. It was a part of his character that he carried with him since his youth, growing up in Andalusia. The artist felt, for example, that one's hair possessed something magical.

And that, given into the wrong hands, even discarded hair could bring harm to the person who's head it came from. Picasso's most well-known Surrealist painting, deemed one of the greatest paintings of all time, was completed in , during the Spanish Civil War: "Guernica.

In black, white and grays, the painting is a Surrealist testament to the horrors of war, and features a minotaur and several human-like figures in various states of anguish and terror.

In contrast to the dazzling complexity of Synthetic Cubism, Picasso's later paintings display simple, childlike imagery and crude technique. Touching on the artistic validity of these later works, Picasso once remarked upon passing a group of school kids in his old age, "When I was as old as these children, I could draw like Raphael , but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them. He was twice honored with the International Lenin Peace Prize, first in and again in By this point in his life, he was also an international celebrity, the world's most famous living artist.

While paparazzi chronicled his every move, however, few paid attention to his art during this time. Picasso continued to create art and maintain an ambitious schedule in his later years, superstitiously believing that work would keep him alive. Picasso created the epitome of his later work, "Self Portrait Facing Death," using pencil and crayon, a year before his death. The autobiographical subject, drawn with crude technique, appears as something between a human and an ape, with a green face and pink hair.

Yet the expression in his eyes, capturing a lifetime of wisdom, fear and uncertainty, is the unmistakable work of a master at the height of his powers. A lifelong womanizer, Picasso had countless relationships with girlfriends, mistresses, muses and prostitutes, marrying only twice. He wed a ballerina named Olga Khokhlova in , and they remained together for nine years, parting ways in They had a son together, Paulo. In , at the age of 79, he married his second wife, Jacqueline Roque.

They had a daughter, Maya, together. Walter committed suicide after Picasso died. The two soon embarked upon a partnership that was both romantic and professional. They went separate ways in Gilot would later marry scientist Jonas Salk , the inventor of the polio vaccine. Picasso died on April 8, , at the age of 91, in Mougins, France. He died of heart failure, reportedly while he and his wife Jacqueline were entertaining friends for dinner.

Considered radical in his work, Picasso continues to garner reverence for his technical mastery, visionary creativity and profound empathy. Contemporary Henri Matisse was particularly vexed and thought it an affront to modern art.

But despite the outrage or maybe because of it , "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" went on to be one of Picasso's most recognizable paintings. You'd be forgiven if you thought the painting's name referred to the city of Avignon in France.

It actually refers to a district in Barcelona , Spain, that was a favorite haunt of prostitutes at the time. If there's a single painting that screams Picasso, this might be the one. It's a fascinating study that asks: "What do you really see when you look at yourself?

Picasso said he "preferred this painting to any of the others," according to MoMA's founding director, Alfred H. Barr Jr. Residing at the Reina Sofia, "Guernica" is one of the most famous paitings in the world. Its depiction of an aerial bombing raid on the Basque town of Guernica in April , during the Spanish Civil War, was an eerie visual prelude to the coming atrocities of World War II.

The muted tones of gray further emphasize the shapes of humans, their arms outstretched in agony, and give the painting the documentary-style impact of a black-and-white photograph. It also contains animal imagery heavily associated with Spain, namely the bull and the horse.

In , it was defaced with red paint as an anti-war protest. It was quickly cleaned up and eventually returned to Spain in Completed: Where to see it: Tate Modern London. In today's cinematic terms, think of "The Weeping Woman" as something of a sequel to "Guernica.

Whereas "Guernica" depicts the fresh and full sweep of destruction, "Weeping Woman" examines the emotional aftermath of war, tightly focused on one woman plucked from the original painting.