Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter and sculptor who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War. His career spanned more than 76 years, from his late teens to his death in 1973.
The Magpie is an oil-on-canvas landscape painting by the French Impressionist Claude Monet, created during the winter of 1868–1869 near the commune of Étretat in Normandy. Monet's patron, Louis Joachim Gaudibert, helped arrange a house in Étretat for Monet's girlfriend Camille Doncieux and their newborn son, allowing Monet to paint in relative comfort, surrounded by his family.
Thor Carlander collection, Paris (1918) Durand-Ruel collection, Paris (1941) Guerlain collection, Paris (1946) Louvre, Paris (1984) Musée d'Orsay, Paris (1984) Provenance →
In the late 1850s, French landscape painter Eugène Boudin (1824–1898) introduced Monet (1840–1926) to the art of painting en plein air—"in the open air", using natural light. The invention of the collapsible metal paint tube (1841) and portable easel brought painting, formerly confined to studios, into the outdoors. Background →
In 1867, Monet's girlfriend, Camille Doncieux (1847–1879), gave birth to their son Jean in Paris. Lacking money, Monet returned to his father's house in Sainte-Adresse and lived with his aunt, leaving Doncieux and their child in Paris. First Étretat campaign →
1937349 × 776 cmMuseo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Guernica is a large 1937 oil painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history. It is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
In January 1937, while Pablo Picasso was living in Paris on Rue des Grands Augustins, he was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create a large artwork for the Spanish pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, a 1937 Paris International Exposition. Commission →
On 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the town of Guernica was razed to the ground by German aircraft belonging to the Condor Legion, sent by Adolf Hitler to support General Francisco Franco's troops. Bombs rained down on Guernica for hours in an "experiment" for the blitzkrieg tactics and bombing of civilians seen in later wars. Bombing of 26 April 1937 →
The Times journalist George Steer propelled this event onto the international scene, and brought it to Pablo Picasso's attention, in an eyewitness account published on 28 April in both The Times and The New York Times. On the 29th it appeared in L'Humanité. Aftermath →
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) ·
Images: Wikimedia Commons,
public domain or Creative Commons (attribution with each work) ·
Part of The Museum at THEODORA
