Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso was a famous Spanish artist. To most, he is known simply as “Picasso.” He was born on October 25th, 1881, and died on April 8, 1973. Pablo’s father was a drawing teacher, and he encouraged his son’s artistic ability. When Pablo was ten years old, the family moved to Barcelona, Spain, where Pablo took an exam to enter a famous and prestigious art school, called La Llonga. The exam was supposed to take one month, but Pablo finished it in one day! He later moved to Paris, where was worked as an artist creating and exhibiting his drawings. During this time, he created his famous “Blue Period” works. They were called this because of their devotion to the color, and because they were quite somber in nature. In 1907, Picasso painted “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” which is known to have been the first painting in the “modern art” movement. Artists from all over the world travelled to see this painting. Picasso created cubism, with a colleague named George Braque In the 1920s, Picasso continued his work by creating theatre sets. His work during this period was considered neo-classical, modern, surreal, and cubist. In 1937, there was a terrible bombing in a small Spanish town called Guernica. Picasso reacted by creating one of his most famous murals, a masterpiece named after the town of Guernica. Picasso then moved on to print making and lithography. He was never content to use a medium the way it was traditionally used, and came up with many inventive new ways to create art. He worked on etchings, engravings, and worked on many other techniques. Just before his 87th birthday, he completed a series called the “347 Series,” in which he created three hundred and forty seven pieces of etching and engraving work – between March and October! One of the most interesting things about Picasso is that he was the first artist to be famous during his own lifetime. He was quite a celebrity, and is considered one of the most important artists of the twentieth century.