Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso is one of the most well known and influential painters of the 20th century. He was born in 1881 and raised in Spain until moving to France, where he carried out his career. He was known for being an incredibly verstaile artist, a notable althought unique portraitist, and co-founder of the Cubist art movement. From an early age, Picasso was an art prodigy, and art scholars often cite the official beginning of his artistic career around the age of 13. He went through notable periods that shaped his artwork, like the Blue Period, Rose Period, and Cubist Periods. One of his chief patrons and advocates was Gertrude Stein. He is also often referred to as one of the 20th century European masters inspired by African aesthetic styles, which conoisseurs point out in works like the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. While he is often honored for his "recognition" of African artistic styles, he was only one of many artists who became entranced with the "Primitive" aesthetics of African art and borrowed its forms to glorify their own work, not African artists' artwork. Picasso died in April of 1973 at the age of 91. He is now known as the "father of modern art."

Source: pablopicasso.org

Pablo Picasso might be best known as a co-founder of Cubism, but in Man and Woman we see a transition into a very different style. The disjointed figure emblematic of Cubism—and visible in the Dream and Lie of Franco series—is now softened, representation now restored, in this deeply intimate scene. This departure from pure Cubism harkens back to his earliest works, which are characterized by a greater commitment to realism and naturalism.

In 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, Pablo Picasso expressed his opposition to General Franco in the series Dreams and Lies of Franco. This is widely regarded as the artist’s first overtly political work. It is a forerunner to Guernica, the 1937 mural painting which gained fame for its visually arresting condemnation of the bombing of the town of Guernica, which was executed by the Nazis at Franco’s request. After the bombing, Picasso added four scenes to Dream and Lie of Franco II as a direct response to the event. These scenes, which depict the civilian casualties of the bombing and the horrors of war, were used as studies for the monumental mural. The print was sold alongside a poem written by Picasso, and profits went to the Spanish Republican government, Franco’s main opposition.