"Picasso was a genius" Discuss this statement

Essay by steff123High School, 12th gradeA+, July 2009

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Picasso's contribution to the art world and his innovative and unique style has earned him the honour of being remembered as a "genius", a truly exhaustive artistic talent whose impact on 20th century art defies all measurement. Not only was he extraordinarily intelligent as well as a social commentator, he was also incredibly creative and an innovator of thought and styles. In fact, he was a major influential figure and driving force of modern art in the 20th century.

Picasso's intellectual capacity was considered far beyond the members of his society at the time. Picasso came from a middle-class family; his father was also a painter and had a major influence in his painting life. Renowned as a child prodigy for the precision of his technique, Picasso's father believed that his son had surpassed him. At the age of 13, Picasso was admitted into the advance class at the School of Fine Arts after impressing the jury by completing an entrance exam that often took students a month, within a week.

Picasso's severely intellectual style known as analytical cubism is a style of painting Picasso developed together with Braque using monochrome brownish and neutral colours. This style involved taking apart objects and analysing them in terms of their shapes as seen in Picasso's artwork Three Musicians. This work marked the first use of collage in fine art. Later on in his life, he associated himself with other intellectuals who impacted on his thought and art making. His quotes and paintings (Particularly analytical cubism) clearly demonstrate that Picasso was an intelligent man, enough to be considered a genius.

Picasso's incredible creativity is evident in the amount of symbolism he includes in his art, but more importantly, his invention of his own artistic movement and style, known as cubism. He could also...