Pablo Picasso

Widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s most influential artists, Pablo Picasso invented or reshaped nearly every major artistic movement of his era. Constantly pushing the boundaries of composition, medium, and style, he left an indelible mark on generations of artists who followed.

Picasso’s career is typically characterized by stylistic periods, including his Blue Period (1901–4), during which the struggling artist’s palette, mood, and subjects were dominated by melancholy blue. The works he produced in these years, such as the Art Institute’s The Old Guitarist (late 1903–early 1904), reflect the influence of the Symbolist movement, whose advocates used color and abstracted form to impart a sense of emotion and psychology. His Rose Period followed, featuring carnival performers and harlequins and reflecting Picasso’s new-found inspiration in ancient and non-Western artworks. Along with his contemporaries Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque, André Derain, Henri Matisse, and Maurice de Vlaminck, Picasso was fascinated by the African masks and figures displayed at the Trocadéro Museum in Paris, which housed works acquired from French colonies. His interest with African art––as well as Oceanic and ancient Iberian art—continued throughout his lifetime and guided his translation of the human form into the geometric language of Cubism, notably in his first large sculpture in that style, Head of a Woman (Fernande) (autumn 1909).

In 1913, the Art Institute became the first art museum in the United States to present Picasso’s work in the International Exhibition of Modern Art, later known as the Armory Show. The museum began collecting his works in the early 1920s, starting with figural drawings and eventually acquiring paintings such as the classically inspired Mother and Child (1921) and the surrealist Red Armchair (1931), as well as works on paper and landmark sculptures, including his Maquette for Richard J. Daley Center Sculpture (1964), which is among Chicago’s most iconic public artworks.