Picasso in Paris

Why Picasso Headed for Paris

When Picasso first visited Paris in 1900, the city was in the thick of the Belle Époque, the "Beautiful Era" that ran fr…

A Prodigy's First Paintings

Man with a Cap was painted in 1895, when Picasso was 15. It is also the earliest work on this route. It isn't here becau…

A Friend's Death and the Start of the Blue Period

A man with closed eyes, a candle blazing behind him. The man in The Death of Casagemas is Casagemas, a painter friend Pi…

Picasso in His Unknown Years: The Portrait of Gustave Coquiot

The sitter in Portrait of Gustave Coquiot was a critic and writer active in Paris at the time. He wrote, collected art a…

Three Self-Portraits, Three Picassos

This is a self-portrait Picasso painted in 1901, and the whole canvas is blue. His Blue Period is generally dated from 1…

A Blue Period Portrait: La Celestina

La Celestina is another representative work of the Blue Period, and it is a portrait. So far we've talked mostly about t…

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon: The Door to Cubism

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, with its row of standing women, is famous enough that many of you will recognize it. Strictly…

Where the Name "Cubism" Came From

Landscape with Two Figures has the unmistakable feel of the Cubism we just talked about. So why was it called "Cubism" i…

The First Muse: Fernande Olivier

Head of a Woman (Fernande) is one of about 1,200 sculptures Picasso left behind. Who was the Fernande named in its title…

Picasso and Braque: Partners in Cubism

Man with a Guitar was painted by Picasso in 1911. Despite the title, you can only just make out the shape of a person; i…

The First Collage: Still Life with Chair Caning

Still Life with Chair Caning dates from 1912. We just talked about papier collé, or collage, alongside Georges Braque. T…

Eva Gouel: A Brief Second Love

You can tell at a glance that Guitar and Bottle is a collage. While Picasso was making collages, another lover stood by…

His First Wife, Olga: Glamour and Fracture

Portrait of Olga in an Armchair shows an elegant woman. Her name was Olga Khokhlova, and she was Picasso's first wife. A…

A Happy Interlude: Two Women Running on the Beach

Two Women Running on the Beach was completed in 1922. Picasso painted it when his wife Olga had given birth to their son…

A Lifelong Passion for the Bullfight

Painted in 1922, *Corrida* takes its title from the Spanish word for bullfight. Picasso was a man of wide-ranging curios…

A Scrap of Cloth Becomes a Guitar

*Guitare* is yet another collage, following the works we've just seen. At the mention of the title, you might once have…

Marie-Thérèse and a Secret Romance

The model for *Buste de femme (Marie-Thérèse)* was Picasso's next lover, whom he saw in secret while still married to Ol…

Dora Maar, the Fierce Muse

Two of Picasso's best-known works, including *The Weeping Woman*, both have his fifth muse, Dora Maar, as their model. W…

The Bull Made from a Bicycle

*Tête de taureau* (Bull's Head) is made by simply rearranging a bicycle saddle and a set of handlebars. Neither has anyt…

Defiance in Bronze: The Death's Head

Sum up *La tête de la mort* (Death's Head), completed in 1943, in one word and it would be "resistance." At a glance it'…

A Sculpture That Never Touches the Ground

*Petite fille sautant à la corde* (Little Girl Skipping Rope) was made while Picasso was living in Vallauris with Franço…

Picasso's Protest: Massacre in Korea

*Massacre en Corée* (Massacre in Korea) is Picasso's painting about the Korean War. After the Second World War, once Par…

Françoise Gilot and the Two Children

*Claude dessinant, Françoise et Paloma* (Claude Drawing, Françoise and Paloma) introduces three new figures. Earlier we…

A Villa in Cannes and a Final Muse: Jacqueline Roque

*L'Atelier de la Californie* picks up the story after Françoise. She left Picasso in 1953, and the following year, in 19…

Reimagining Manet

*Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (d'après Manet)* was painted while Picasso was living at La Californie with Jacqueline Roque. I…

Portrait of the Last Muse

*La femme à l'oreiller* (Woman with a Pillow) is a portrait of Jacqueline Roque, Picasso's last muse and his wife. From…

Picasso's Final Years and What Came After

We've followed Picasso's life from childhood to old age. As death drew closer, he became increasingly isolated from the…