Born as Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso on the 25th October 1881, in Malaga, Spain, but known to the world as Pablo Picasso, he was a renowned painter, sculptor and poet, producing works such as “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907), “Guernica” (1937), and “The Weeping Woman” (1937), among many others. Pablo`s career was active from 1900 until the 1970s, during which he created more than 50,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, ceramics, prints rugs and tapestries. Picasso passed away in 1973.
Have you ever wondered how rich Pablo Picasso was, at the time of his death? According to sources, it has been estimated that Picasso`s net worth was as high as $500 million, an amount he accumulated through utilising his many talents.
Pablo Picasso Net Worth $500 Million
Pablo was named in an honor of Spanish saints and some of his relatives; he was the son of María Picasso y López and Don José Ruiz y Blasco, who was a painter and sculptor, in whose footsteps he soon followed. Pablo`s first word was piz piz – pencil in Spanish – and when he turned seven, his father began training him in painting fundamentals. In 1891, Pablo`s family moved to La Coruna, where his father became a professor in the School Of Fine Arts. Pablo`s painting quickly improved, and his father was impressed enough to think that Pablo had surpassed him already.
Four year after they moved to La Coruna, Pablo`s sister Conchita died of diphtheria, which left Pablo severely depressed; to help him, his father convinced officials of the academy to let Pablo take the student entry test, which Pablo finished in a week instead of the usual month, and so became a part of the academy at just 13 years old. Because of his age, he didn`t like the lessons, and was criticized for his behavior, but still managed to matriculate.
At 16, his father and uncle sent him to Spain’s most notable art school, the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. However, Pablo soon stopped attending classes, as he was bored by the learning material, and focused on finding interest elsewhere, including museums such as the Prado, where works from artists including Francisco Goya, Diego Velasquez and Francisco Zurbaran were displayed. He admired most the works of El Greco, whose style subsequently influenced Pablo`s later works.
Before the 1900s, Pablo`s works were in the shadow of other artists, mostly because of his age, but as he became older, his works became more appreciated. His career has been divided into several periods, each determined by the style of his paintings. The Blue Period began in 1901, and lasted until 1904, which gave the world some of the Picaso`s most notable works, such as “La Vie” (1903), “The Blindman’s Meal” (1903), “Celestina” (1903), and “The Frugal Repast” (1904), among other paintings.
Then came Pablo`s Rose Period, from 1904 until 1906, during which he used lighter colors, such as pink and orange, best depicted in works such as “Garçon à la pipe” (1905), “Au Lapin Agile” (1905), and “Portrait of Gertrude Stein” (1906).
In 1907, Pablo became a part of an art gallery in Paris, opened by German art historian and collector Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, and started his African-influenced Period, which gave the world one of the Picaso`s most famous paintings “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”.
Known as the father of Cubism, Picasso and fellow painter Georges Braque created the new style, using monochrome brownish and neutral colors. Some of his most notable works of this period include “Girl with a Mandolin” (1910), “Figure dans un Fauteuil” (1909), “Three Musicians” (1921), among many others.
Pablo stayed active during the 1920s and 1930s, succumbing to classicism and surrealism, completing painting such as “Guernica”, which has been one of his most popular works.
When World War II started, Picasso not only painted, but also ventured into writing, and created plays such as “Desire Caught By The Tail”(1941) and “The Four Little Girls” (1949), and wrote some of his more than 300 poems, which were described as erotic, gustatory and scatological.
Following the end of the World War II, he also started his career as a sculptor, creating such works as “Chicago Picasso”, which he donated to the people of Chicago, and a series of sculptures based on the picture “Las Meninas” by Diego Velasquez. Furthermore, he created sculptures based on paintings by such artists as Manet, Goya and others.
Picasso stayed active until the 1970s, mixing his previous styles with new ones, incorporating all into his paintings, and so creating Neo-Expressionism, without even being aware of it.
With the fame came fortune, as his works sold for around $100 million, including “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” (1932), which was sold for $106.5 million, “Garcon a la Pipe” (1905), for $104 million, and “Dora Maar au Chat” for $95.2 million, which only increased his net worth. His paintings command huge figures when available to purchase.
When it comes to his personal life, Pablo was married twice; his first wife was Olga Khokhlova, with whom he was married from 1918 until 1955; the couple had one child. His second marriage was with Jacqueline Roque, from 1961 until his death; the couple didn`t have children.
Apart from marriages, Picasso had several mistresses, with some of whom he had children; Marie-Thérèse Walter was the mother of his daughter Maria de la Concepcion Picasso, and Françoise Gilot, who was 40 years younger than him, gave birth to Anne Paloma Picasso and Claude Pierre Pablo Picasso.
Pablo Picasso passed away in Mougins, France on 8 April 1973, and was interred at his property near Aix-en-Provence.
Politically Picasso was a Republican sympathiser during the Spanish civil war, and joined the French communist party in 1944, which caused some conflict with fellow artists, and which of influenced the denial French citizenship.
