of the city life around him. In 1896 he entered the school of Fine Arts, where his father was a
professor. Paris was the Center of Art and Literature, he visit the city in 1900, where he fell
under the spell of the artistic atmosphere. He returned later and settled in 1904. He was very
poor, but his studio became a meeting place for many artists Batterberry, 243-244). Picasso had
his first exhibition at the Cafe Quatre Gats in Barcelona. He studied at the Royal Academy of
San Fernado in Madrid for many years (World Book Encyclopedia, 448).
As Ariane Batterberry points out, Picasso painted scenes of the day-to-day life of many poor
people of his neighborhood. He painted several circus pictures, which were mostly for the
amusement of children. He also did paintings in varieties of gray and blue, these were called
"Picasso's Blue Period" (Batterberry, 243). John Kehoe tells us that, Picasso's works were
named by the atmosphere each piece showed. His Blue Period-showed lots of blue colors that
were full of sadness. The Rose Period was a very soft warm optimistic mood. Picasso also
experimented with Cubism, which he picked up from George Braque, a french painter. He used
postage stamps and newspapers which this style of work was known as Collage (135-137).
Picasso was very much influenced by Paul Ciezanne. He tried to show the geometric shapes in
life. Picasso and a friend attempted this and used geometric shapes for the paintings of a band.
This form and style of painting was know as Cubism. He also made several collages by painting
various things using different materials (Batterberry, 243). For 70 years or more his energy burst
through conventional boundaries to discover new releases. Body of works included paintings
and sculpture, they could have very well been the work of a dozen artists. His works were
auctioned for enormous prices, making him extremely wealthy. Picasso quoted several of his
works, such as; Beauty, Art, and Research... "I have a horror of people who speak about the
beautiful. What is the beautiful? One must speak of problems in painting! Paintings are but
research and experiment. I never do a painting as a Work of Art. All of them are researches.",
Bad Paintings..."I like all paintings. I always look at the paintings-good or bad-in barbershops,
furniture stores, provincial hotels...I'm like a drinker who needs wine. As long as it is wine, it
doesn't matter which wine.", Symbolism and Communism..."If I paint a hammer and a
sickle people may think it is a representation of Communism, but for me it is only a hammer and
sickle. I just want to reproduce the objects for what they are; not for what they mean." ("Domain
of the Arts", 1-2).
Picasso's moods were known to change as often as his lifestyles. His art was extremely
valuable even in his own lifetime, because of the great variety of his styles. After he moved to
Spain, Batterberry explains. Picasso still continued to experiment with painting, as well as sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, and collage (244). John Kehoe provides us with the
information that, in the late 1920's Picasso turned toward a flat, cubist-related style. In the
1930's however paintings became militant and political.
Guernica (1937) masterpiece from this time period reflects the terror of the bombing of the town
of Guernica during Spanish Civil War. After WWII his works became very gentle, because of he
moods that were around him. Picasso worked the rest of his life on historical styles of art, most
were reproductions of other artists works (200-202). As he often did, Picasso also quoted many
of his paintings and works done in his later years by saying "If everyone would paint, political
re-education would be unnecessary.", "No, painting is not made to decorate apartments, its and
offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.", "I paint the way someone bites his
