Informative Speech

            When people stare at Pablo Picasso’s artwork, they will ask “Why is this old man’s scratch worth a hundred million dollars?”, “This is the painting I drew when I was three”, and criticize others’ foolishness who brought the art and jealous Picasso becoming a billionaire with these child-like paintings. Incredibly, Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust sold for “106.5 million dollars” (Most Expensive Painting). So, who is Picasso, and what is his art journey?

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            Picasso didn’t create art, Art created Picasso. (Chiasmus) As far as the value of Picasso's paintings is concerned, he is an old man who “steals” money; As far as the influence of Picasso's paintings in art history is concerned, his paintings are gems. (Antithesis) Picasso was born in 1881, the period when western classic art had debilitated and impressionism took place; he said “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” Is he bragging about the Raphael example? Yes, Picasso could not become a master oil painter like Raphael (Hypophora), the traditional realistic oil painting had become obsolete. Even though his early stage paintings are indeed outstanding and he is full of talent, he didn’t gain fame, didn’t be exceptional, and didn’t dedicate himself to the classic art style. (Parallelism) In the later years, Melancholic blues covered Picasso's creations, “For Picasso, it was a time of dejection and sadness. One of his best friends the painter, Carlos Casagemas, committed suicide” (Stern). The people inside Picasso's works are rendered sad by this blue melody. Around 1904 Picasso met Fernande Oliver, a French artist Picasso fell in love with, who (Parenthesis) “changed [Picasso] in the way he presented his models. Their arms, legs, and fingers were elongated in the manner of mid-Renaissance Italian artists” (Stern). Moreover, the appearance of Fernande brought hope to Picasso, the tones of his paintings gradually changed to red and pink, and his Rose Period paved the way for Picasso's cubism. Within cubism, Picasso reduced the figure to geometric figures, giving a great visual contrast. However, geometric figures are also basic to the composition of human beings, making his paintings look not human, but squinting to have the shape of a figure. Even if this kind of painting is certainly not as real as Raphael's art, it is still more than enough to create a new concept of painting and to attract people's attention. 

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            Does Picasso have any physical defects so his style looks crazy? No, (Hypophora) Van Gogh painted the starry night because of his mental illness, Monet painted water lilies because of his blindness, and Picasso painted Guernica because of war and citizen terror. (Parallelism) “The town [Guernica] was destroyed. In a population that day of between 5,000 and 10,000 residents and refugees, between 300 and 1,000 died. Hundreds more were injured” (Rhodes). The war was undoubtedly brutal, and Guernica depicts dead men, frightened animals, and women in despair. “Part of the power of Picasso’s great painting is its ambiguity. Its events take place simultaneously inside and outside of the interior space it seems at first to define” (Rhodes). Picasso's cubism allows for exaggerated expressions in the figures, and the unnatural contortions of all the bodies give the Guernica of the time a frantic tinge. Besides that, Picasso painted many women, usually depicted as nude. “Picasso would go frenzy with every new woman which appeared in his life” (Takac). Like many writers and artists of the lost generation, Picasso was a libertine: women are his love, women are his interest, women are inspirational for his art. (Parallelism)

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            If Picasso had always embraced traditional western painting, his work would be drowned under the sea of other famous artists, and Picasso would not have become an iconic figure in art. From realism, to blur, to abstraction, to the present simplicity, Picasso plays a heavy stroke in the history of art.