Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter and sculptor, born in Málaga on 25 October 1881 and dead in Mougins, in the south of France, on 8 April 1973. He invented Cubism with Georges Braque, painted Guernica and made some fifty thousand works. He is remembered as the most famous artist of the twentieth century, and as a man whose treatment of the women in his life is now part of his name.
Few artists were celebrated so loudly while they lived, and few have been judged so hard since. Both reputations come from the same ninety-one years.
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When Picasso died in 1973 he was among the richest artists who had ever lived, and he had left no will. A judge ended up dividing the estate between his widow Jacqueline, his children Claude, Maya and Paloma, and two grandchildren, Marina and Bernard.
Before that, Jacqueline had barred his children and grandchildren from the funeral. Among those turned away was his grandson Pablito, who days later swallowed a bottle of bleach. He lived three more months.
The man who painted the century's great protest against war left a family at war over his fortune. It started with a boy in Málaga whose father could draw birds.
What You'll Discover
Where the name Picasso came from.
Why his paintings turned blue.
Who he was roped to.
Why police questioned him in 1911.
Where Guernica waited for Spain.
What happened to the women.