Photograph by Gjon Mili
Pablo Picasso is a name that's synonymous with both art and revolutionary genius. Born in Málaga, Spain, on October 25, 1881, Picasso was a prodigy who eventually moved to France, where he charted a new path for the world of art. What also made Picasso such a rarity was the fact that he was an artist who painted works that were cherished while he was still alive (typically, an artist is dead before the weight of their work is appreciated by the public, think van Gogh).
Throughout his long and celebrated career, Picasso went through several artistic phases: the Blue Period (1901–1904), Rose Period (1904–1906), Primitivism (1907–1909), Cubism (1909–1919), Neoclassicism, and Surrealism (1919–1929), to name a few (the rest of the list goes on until his death in 1973, at the age of 91).
What is certain is that the world of art, and to some degree popular culture, was never the same after Picasso's passing. He was not just one in a generation, but one in a species—an artist who broke boundaries so dramatically, that other artists could only pick up whatever pieces he left on the ground to learn and understand his brilliance.
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