Pablo Picasso

A woman is a woman, according to history. But to Pablo Picasso, a woman was something else again. A combination of lines, forms, and colors. Picasso changed the combination to suit his moods, and his result was seldom Eve-like. The woman may have elephant ears, crossed eyes, two noses. In the name of art, Picasso transformed natural appearances for well over half a century. People who don’t like unconventional art say he spoofed the public, and the public itself often scoffed at his works. When his chief masterpiece, Guernica, was first shown, many thought it looked like a jigsaw puzzle. But a multitude of artists now following in his footsteps believe Picasso was liberating art from age-old academic tradition.