Pablo Picasso is one of the best-known names in the art world, and rightly so. His paintings have become synonymous with the twentieth century, breaking away from the classic two-dimensional styles that dominated European art for so long.

Picasso was born in Spain, but in 1900, he traveled to France, where he was truly able to flourish as an artist and spent most of his career. With his earliest work shown in Montparnasse, Picasso earned the patronage of American expatriates Leo and Gertrude Stein. His art became well-known in Paris and was later introduced to the United States as part of a Cubist exhibition at the 1913 Armory Show in New York City. However, Picasso’s career was not without controversy. He continued to paint and sculpt in defiance of the German occupation of Paris during World War II, and was later marked for his Communist sympathies. Picasso eventually passed away on April 8, 1973.

Although Picasso was the son of an art professor, he refused to abide by the classic methods that scholars like his father upheld. As one of the first Cubist artists, Picasso sought to paint and experiment with new perspectives in order to challenge himself and his audience. His Blue and Rose Periods—where he would only paint in those colors—were formed as personal exercises.

One of the most notable traits of Cubism is how people are broken up and reassembled in new, often bizarre arrangements. Picasso pioneered the style in 1907 with a painting titled Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon). Five nude women are shown as severe geometric shapes, turning what would be a delicate image into a confrontational one. The lines and colors also depart from the classic style, using forms inspired by primitive art and African tribal masks. What stands out in most of Picasso’s Cubist paintings is how a two-dimensional subject is broken up into several unnatural angles, creating a violent clash of perspectives that still forms a coherent whole.

While he was not overtly political until later in his life, Picasso frequently painted with a consistent anti-war theme. His painting Guernica highlights the tormented victims of a German bombing run during the Spanish Civil War, which made him unpopular with the Nazi regime that later occupied Paris. He would also speak out against the US intervention in the Korean War with his stark portrayal of violent soldiers in Massacre in Korea.

The reason for Picasso’s enduring popularity is the new way in which he chose to create art. His work challenges its audience, but also attracts them, showing them life in a new perspective as befits the modern age.

Image Credit: Nathan Laurell on Flickr