Pablo Picasso Lee Miller 1937 © Succession Picasso. DACS, London 2023. Reproduced courtesy of a private collection on long term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland

Biography

Born 1881
Died 1973
Nationalities Spanish
French
Birth place Málaga
Death place Mougins

The son of an artist, Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, and studied at art school in Barcelona. He visited Paris in 1900 and after several extended stays settled there in 1904. Picasso was a hugely prolific and highly influential artist who worked in numerous styles throughout his life. His cubist paintings and collages, which date from about 1907-18, had a revolutionary impact on artists the world over. Thereafter he switched with ease between Cubist and classical styles. Painter, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor, collagist and even playwright, his influence on the visual arts was profound and is still felt. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has a choice collection of Picasso's work, including a 'Blue Period' painting, a cubist painting and drawing, two rare cubist collages, and an impressive collection of his later drawings, prints and artist books.

Glossary terms

Glossary terms

Collage

An image constructed from found materials, such as photographs, paper or fabric, glued to a surface, sometimes with additional painted or drawn elements. It is an art form particularly associated with Dada and Surrealism.

Cubism

A style of painting originated by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Instead of painting a figure or object from a fixed position they represented it from multiple viewpoints.

School of Paris

A loosely affiliated group of artists working in Paris in the early years of the twentieth century up to the Second World War.

Degenerate Art

The term Degenerate Art ('Entarte Kunst' in German), was coined in the 1930s by the Nazis to ridicule modern art that did not fit with Hitler’s vision'. Confiscated by the German government, exhibitions of 'Degenerate' art took place in cities including Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. In addition to this ridicule, the Nazi's banned artists branded with the term from exhibiting or holding teaching posts.

Primitivism

A term used to describe art that employs ‘primitive’ elements or forms. Today the term ‘primitive’ is often deemed as degrading when applied to non-Western cultures, so is frequently placed in quotation marks.

Figurative Art

A term for art that refers to the representation of the human figure, however, altered or distorted. It is often applied to paintings and sculptures made after twentieth-century abstraction that re-introduced elements of the human body into abstract styles, including work by Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud.

Grisaille

A style of monochromatic painting in shades of grey.

Monoprint

A monoprint is a form of printmaking in which an image is made from a smooth surface or ‘plate’ coated in printing ink such as a sheet of glass or metal. In contrast with other printing techniques, only one final image is made, making the technique closer to drawing or painting than other print processes. The term ‘monoprint’ and ‘monotype’ are often used interchangeably to reference the same process, although some prefer to use the term ‘monoprint’ to refer to a series of similar works, while a ‘monotype’ is a one-off.

Exhibitions

Ended
Lee Miller and Picasso
  • Ended Sun 6 Sep 2015
Portrait
Ended
Picasso & Modern British Art
  • Ended Sun 4 Nov 2012
Modern
Ended
The Discovery of Spain: British Artists and Collectors: Goya to Picasso
  • Ended Sun 11 Oct 2009
National
Ended
Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage
  • Ended Sun 27 Oct 2019
Modern