We are actively seeking to acquire works by Pablo Picasso.

A painter and printmaker who revolutionized western art, Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, and developed his skill and talent at the Royal Academy of Barcelona at the age of fourteen. He made his first trip to Paris in 1900, where he studied Old Masters and Classical sculpture, and also examined paintings by Impressionists and Post Impressionists.

Picasso made a full move to Paris in 1908 and became a part of the Parisian art community with fellow artist, Georges Braque. Within the context of this creative environment and with war and social uprising always on his doorstep, Picasso experimented with a variety of different mediums that ultimately led to his revolutionary collage paintings. Picasso’s career was mostly dedicated to the depiction of the human form, which he explored in detail at this time and developed into the first phase of Cubism.

Between 1914 and 1918, he went to Rome to produce set designs and costumes for the Russian Ballet.In this period he made numerous drawings, leading to his extensive work in printmaking. His graphic art, which actually dated to 1905, was diverse as he was ever looking for new modes of expression, and he did etchings, drypoint, linocuts, woodcuts, aquatints and sometimes combinations.

By the early 1920’s, Picasso began painting abstract figures in exaggerated distortions, which set the stage for his participation in Surrealist exhibitions in Europe. This experimentation with such figures in line and form led to his interest in sculpture, and proved to be one of his most productive periods. In 1927, he began a relationship with seventeen-year-old Marie Therese Walther, and in 1936 with Dora Maar, a photographer.

At the time of the Second World War, Picasso began modeling with clay, and also delved into collages with found objects as a way to express his humour. He excelled in printmaking and experimented further with ceramics. After 1943, he had two children with painter Francoise Gilot, and later met Jacqueline Roque in 1953, and married her in 1961.

Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973 at the age of 91.

Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Canada