Art Captions

Author notes

0030. Maya and her Doll

CornTown

on Feb. 16, 2010

By Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Circa. 1938
Cubism

Among people, there is a common misconception that Picasso and many modern arts put no thought into their work and just slapped random colors onto a canvas. This is the exact opposite. With most pieces of Modern art, these works went through countless revisions and preliminary drawings before being completed. For instance, this painting of Maya and her doll went through at least seven sketches and if you were to look at it under an x-ray, you would see several different images which were changed over the course of the painting's creation.
Picasso is odd among artists as he completely mastered classical art by the time he was only twenty. Because he was so talented, and could essential draft any classical work with ease, Picasso grew board with the establishment of high art. His art began to change radically and would constantly change throughout his life, going through periods of blue and rose, cubism and modernism, real and surreal.