Pablo Picasso

Born into a modest family that recognised his talent from an early age, Picasso was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona at the age of fourteen, an exceptional achievement. After a brief period in Madrid, he returned to Barcelona, where he began experimenting and challenging the conventions of his academic training. Between 1901 and 1904, the death of his close friend Carlos Casagemas and financial difficulties contributed to the development of his Blue Period. After moving to Paris in 1904, his work gradually shifted towards the warmer palette and circus subjects of the Rose Period. In the following years, Picasso and Georges Braque developed Cubism, first in its Analytical phase and later in its Synthetic form. From the mid-1920s, Picasso engaged with Surrealism, exploring distorted forms and dreamlike imagery without abandoning his independent approach. In 1944 he joined the French Communist Party and became involved in the international peace movement. He received the International Stalin Peace Prize in 1950 and the International Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.