Pablo Picasso was certainly one of, if not the, best known of all the Modernists artists. He was born in Malaga , in Spain, in  1881, though he spent most of his life as an artist in France. He was not only a painter but also a prolific sculptor and ceramicist. In total he produced over 20,000 pieces of art in these three media. In partnership with Georges Braque, he created the Cubist movement, which changed art thoroughly during the 20th century. This movement influenced many of the later styles, such as Futurism, Suprematism and Constructivism.

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Picasso's father was a professor of Art and gave lessons to a clearly gifted son from the age of 7. On moving to Paris, he developed an interest in symbolism. This was to develop over the course of his artistic journey. In his early years he went through several "periods", each of which was reflective of his mental state. His earliest was the Blue Period (1901-1904), which was heavily influenced by depression caused by poverty and death. This was followed by a happier and personally more successful period - the Rose Period (1904-1906).  After this he discovered the power of African Art through the work of post impressionists such as Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse.

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IN 1909 Picasso started to develop a partnership with Georges Braque and between them they created the concepts of Cubism - probably the most influential artistic movement of the 20th century. Never did Picasso stand still and his work was still developing until his death in 1973.