Image: Mathematica-Created Image
Program Credit: Karl Scherer
His last words were immortalized in Paul McCartney's album, Band on the Run. The song of course, "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)".
Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881. Wiki tells that his father was a painter and Pablo received formal training in copying the masters and painting the human body. He tired of formal training and drifted to Paris where the notable Gertrude Stein became his patron.
Francis Schaeffer explains that Pablo merged fragmentation with the form of African masks. He explains this was Picasso's expression of a ruined world. Notably, Picasso never painted his lovers in a fragmented style, but instead as very human. Likewise, he painted his children as human, not fragmented.
When Picasso Came Round to Play is an engrossing story of Picasso as a family friend by Antony Penrose. The author's father was also an artist, and Picasso would visit frequently visit their family farm. He relates that Guernica was commissioned by the Spanish government and it shows the small town being destroyed by German and Italian bombers.
During World War II, Picasso supported the French Resistance. Curiously upon the liberation of France, Picasso joined the Communist Party. He then began to produce art depicting the Party as mankind's destiny, and mocked its enemies. Perhaps reflecting the fragmentation or cubism of his world, he accumulated tens of millions of dollars in artwork sales while promoting communism.
Mmm. Guernica is a powerful piece of art that even today expresses the senselessness and hurt of war. Picasso the artist was prolific - he produced more art than any other known artist. Penrose argues that Pablo had a passion for peace, freedom, and truth. He certainly generated some interesting paintings!
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