A painter and printmaker who revolutionized western art, Pablo Picasso was born in Spain and lived most of his life either there or in France. His father was an art teacher, and the young Pablo grew up in an artistic environment. By the age of fourteen, he was an accomplished draftsman, and in 1900 at age nineteen, he made his first trip to Paris. There he studied the Old Masters* and Classical* sculpture and also was exposed to the paintings of Impressionists* and Post Impressionists*.
Between 1901 and 1904, his work was dominated by a blue palette, which has led to this time being called his "Blue Period". Blue, for him, was to symbolize the ". . . suffering-frequently hunger and cold, the hardships he experienced while attempting to establish himself." (Arnason, 125) By 1905, his 'Rose or Circus Period' was beginning, and also later that year, he became doing painting reflective of a growing interest in African masks. By 1907, he painted what is regarded as his first masterpiece and as the first Cubist painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.