Pablo Picasso Research Paper

Pablo Picasso and his Fascination with African Art
Pablo Picasso, a well known innovative and a genius when it came to art produced thousands of works of art which brought forth mixed reactions and later on transformed Modern Art. With a close friend of his, Matisse, an artistic rivalry grew, each trying to be the better artist. This drove Picasso into seeking new ways of which he would dethrone his friend. This drove him to African Art. He would later on use concepts from African art to produce artistic pieces that would later on help him in surpassing his friend. Unknown to him, he ended up creating a new artistic expression in Europe, (Cowling 2002). Picasso was introduced to an African piece of art by Matisse, a Vili figurine, in 1906. …show more content…
This he did through incorporating the figural distortion seen in African paintings and sculptures and also the emotional intensity that is brought forth by the same in his paintings. Paul Klee, an artist based in Munich from the Blue Rider group also had inspiration from African art. This made him develop symbolic imagery in his pieces of art. This fascination went ahead and was greatly displayed and intensified past 1910 at the Gauguin Exhibition based in Dredsen, (Karmel …show more content…
This was made possible by engagements of artists from these countries with artists from the School of Paris, (Karmel 2003). This school at the time had a lot of African Art collections from which these artists could view and draw inspiration. As a result of this, Native African art which represented non-western culture got its way across the western countries and the rest of the world. Continued inspirations led to the rise of new artistic styles that greatly affected modern art movement, (Patrick 2008).
The use of personal expression through the use of intense color as a way of describing space and light was revived by Henri Matisse and several other artists. The same artists redefined the use of pure colors in bringing out and communicating emotions. This intense use of color drew inspiration from African paintings. These brought forth the Fauvism art movement, a movement that strongly believed in bringing out individual expressions in artwork in a strong and unified manner from the use of intense colors (Patrick

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