Pablo Picasso was an amazing painter who created with colour and shape. His paintings opened people's minds and showed there were many ways to express ideas.
Born in Spain in 1881, Picasso learned to paint at an early age because his father was a painter. At fourteen, Picasso began attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona. Although Picasso did well, his teachers wouldn't let him develop his own style (风格). So he changed schools. Though his new teachers praised his work, they still criticized (批评) it as being too unusual. Picasso made up his mind to express himself in his own way.
Disappointed at his job in Spain, nineteen-year-old Picasso moved to Paris, where he learned about abstract (抽象派的) art. However, an important development in his own style came along when his best friend killed himself. Picasso was so sad that he painted only in blue and grey. He painted the poor and the disabled. This is known as his "Blue Period".
In 1904, Picasso's painting style changed again when he fell in love with an artist model. He began painting everything with colours of red and pink. He mainly painted circus performers (马戏团表演) and artists during this time, called his "Rose Period".
Picasso's style went through another change as he began to learn about African art and geometry (几何学). Instead of painting with different colours, he used different shapes. His paintings surprised people because they looked like they had been broken and put back together incorrectly. Picasso's new style became known as "Cubism". Cubism was so unusual that it became very popular.
Pablo Picasso is most remembered for his Blue, Rose and Cubism periods. But his painting styles kept changing until his death at age ninety-two.
① He used many shapes.
② He used different colours.
③ He was influenced by African art and geometry.
④ He painted broken things that were put back together perfectly.
