most prolific and idolized artists of the 2oth century Pablo Picasso continually broke artistic boundaries and stunned the world with his originality Decades after the artist s death his name still resonates with boldness and his work reveals the vision of a man driven to create until the very end ablo Ruiz Picasso on Oc ablo Ruiz Picasso was born on tober 25 1881 in Málaga a town in the sun drenched south of Spain His father José Ruiz Blasco was a painter who had struggled for years to make a living as an artist Shortly 10
after his marriage to Maria Picasso José accepted that he would never become a great artist and settled into a job teaching art As a teacher he was able to provide a comfortable middle class lifestyle for his wife and family but he often felt dissatisfied He hoped that Pablo his only son would have the opportunity to achieve greater success in his life than he had in his own Pablo the eldest of the Ruiz children had two sisters His sister Lola was born on the heels of an earthquake a terrifying experience for three year old Pablo Already an imaginative boy he could not look at his sister without conjuring visions of the earthquake He regarded the shift of the earth as the moment when his parents at tention shifted away from him to the new baby Pablo s other sister Conchita born when Pablo was six died as a child The loss was difficult for the whole family but PABLO PICAsso 11
it was especially hard on Pablo's father plunging him into a lasting depression Pablo took after his mother physically with large dark eyes and black hair that swept across his forehead but he seemed to possess equal amounts of his parents personalities He had his mother s fun loving spirit and was often full of mischief his eyes flashing and his mouth bent into a smirk But like his father he was also moody Pablo's face could cloud over with seriousness in an instant As toddler shapes and colors a enchanted Pablo and the first word he uttered was piz short for lapiz or pencil From the moment his parents placed a pencil in his hand Pablo began to understand the correlation between pictures and the expression of ideas and emo tions Drawing spirals was his way of telling his parents 12
that he wanted a churro a sweet Spanish pastry Shapes and colors Pablo learned could bring the world to his feet hroughout his childhood Pablo spent long hours each day drawing everything that came before his eyes His parents could see that he had talent but they wor ried over Pablo's difficulties and disinterest in school Day after day Pablo s attention drifted away from his lessons to the imaginary world he created with his pen In elementary school reading writing and arithmetic remained troublesome for him a sign that he perhaps had PABLO PICAsso
