7 Things You Need To Know About Picasso

Visit Tate Modern as it celebrates one of the world’s greatest artists, says Emma Levine

- Emma Levine

This summer, Tate Modern is honouring the great artist Picasso, and one significant year, in The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy. But how did his childhood, parents and politics affect his work?

1 CHILD PRODIGY

While most babies’ first words are ‘dada’ or ‘mama’, the Malaga-born Picasso’s was ‘pencil’, or ‘piz’, in Spanish. A prophecy? It’s possible, but more likely because his father José Ruiz Blasco was an artist. A child prodigy, Picasso created his first painting, Le Picador, at the age of eight, and as a young teenager he was producing paintings that would merit being exhibited in any major gallery. At 13, Picasso enrolled and quickly shone at the Barcelona art school – where his father taught – yet he left three years later because he was ‘bored’.

2 A WAY WITH WOMEN