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PICASSO'S LEGACY 
PICASSO'S LATE STYLE
PICASSO'S APPROACH TO PAINTING
PICASSO'S LAST DECADES IN REVIEW
PICASSO'S APPROACHES TO PRINTMAKING |
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PICASSO'S LEGACY
Pablo Picasso died in 1973 at the age of 91. His greatest influence on twentieth century art depended mostly on the inventions of his Cubist period - which was more or less over by the end of the First World War. Even so, Picasso's legendary creative power became a part of twentieth century folklore. He was remembered not just for cubism, he represented the unpredictable, non-conformist spirit of modern art - he was modern art.
Picasso's art stood out like a beacon of liberty and a banner of independence. In 1912 an art critic proclaimed his avant-garde creed in no uncertain terms: 'Revolt is a constant principle that individuals bear within themselves, it is a state of mind and a form of thought.' This state of mind, this form of thought was given concrete expression in Picasso's art.
His avant-garde breakthrough came in 1907 with his manifesto painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. In many respects, Picasso's late years were preoccupied with 'unfinished business' arising from this painting. Its clash of pictorial codes, extremes of discordance and fragmentation, convinced many early viewers that it was an unfinished work. Picasso later told Francoise Gilot how he grappled with his paintings in process, asking:
'How can I make it more unique - not simply new, but stripped down and lacerating? You see for me painting is a dramatic action in the course of which reality finds itself split apart... What interests me is to set up the most unexpected relationship possible between things ... I want to draw the mind in a direction it's not used to and wake it up.' |
