Before the Cubism: The Shocking Story of Early Picasso Paintings
Before the Cubism: The Shocking Story of Early Picasso Paintings
When most people hear the name Pablo Picasso, they immediately picture weird, distorted faces, eyes placed in the wrong spots, and abstract geometric shapes. We all know him as the wild mastermind behind Cubism. But if you think Picasso started his career painting abstract art because he couldn’t draw “normally,” you are in for a massive surprise.
Long before he broke all the rules of traditional art, he actually mastered them. The story of early Picasso paintings proves that he was an absolute prodigy who could paint like an old Renaissance master before he even hit his teenage years.
The Genius of Pablo Picasso’s First Artwork
Picasso’s journey started in Malaga, Spain, under the guidance of his father, who happened to be an art professor. His father gave him strict, academic training, and young Pablo absorbed it like a sponge.
He completed his very first official oil painting, titled The Picador, in 1890. Want to guess how old he was? He was only nine years old! The painting, which shows a man riding a horse during a traditional Spanish bullfight, already displayed a shocking understanding of color, shadow, and perspective that most adults spend decades trying to learn.
By the time he was 13, his skills were so advanced that his father reportedly handed over his own paintbrushes and palette to Picasso, claiming that his young son had already surpassed him. Talk about a young Picasso genius moment!
Shifting from Tradition to Revolution
As he moved into his mid-teens, Picasso created larger, breathtaking academic pieces like The First Communion (painted at age 15) and Science and Charity (painted at age 16). These weren’t weird or abstract at all. They were highly realistic, emotional, and technically perfect.
So, why did he change his style later on? Picasso famously said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”
Once he proved to the world—and to himself—that he could master classic realism perfectly, he got bored. He realized that the camera could capture reality, so the job of an artist was to capture something deeper. This realization is what shifted his Picasso childhood art style into the groundbreaking, experimental modern art we celebrate today.
Looking back at his very first brushstrokes reminds us that true rule-breakers usually know the rules inside and out before they decide to bend them. Picasso didn’t paint abstract shapes because he had to; he did it because he chose to!