Picasso Birthday

Self-portrait I made in High School

To celebrate my birthday I usually visit a museum for fun & inspiration. I actually have a good time visiting with works of art.

This year my birthday fell on Monday when most museums are closed. On Sunday I visited The Menil (pronounced men-eel) Museum in Houston.

When I was in high school I learned that Cubism uses geometric shapes.

Picasso The Line is exhibited until January 8, 2017; the drawings date from 1907 to 1969. Comprising ninety works on paper with pen, graphite, charcoal, and collage. 

One of his opened notebooks had these modern-looking dot and line drawings.











Seeing his actual drawings encourages me in my sketching. I bought these two books at The Menil Museum book store to continue my inspiration.

Gertrude Stein likens Picasso’s Cubism to architecture in Spain. She said he always went back to naturalism: figurative drawing.

This original drawing is on exhibit at The Menil Museum

Picasso had a long life - born October 25th 1881 and died in 1973. What made him so special? He broke with tradition using geometric shapes and patterns; he was versatile with different mediums: lithograph printing, sculpting in clay, drawing, painting, even making ceramic vases and plates.

Do you have any thoughts about Picasso’s art? Please let me know in the Comments section.

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016