The Mona Lisa became the world’s most famous painting only after it was stolen. Before its theft in 1911 it was not widely known outside the art world. But its disappearance prompted an international media frenzy and a frantic criminal investigation, and two years passed before it was discovered.
Art & Design
in 1901, Picasso imposed a self-constraint to boost creativity. His ‘blue period’ helped him produce paintings that conveyed a sense of melancholy and sadness, and shattered the assumption that paintings required a range of vibrant colours to be successful.
When pressed to explain the elements in Guernica, Pablo Picasso said: “This bull is a bull and this horse is a horse… If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning… I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.”
Art historians have come up with several explanations for the painting’s meaning, all of which may be misguided. According to Picasso himself, “this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse. If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. I paint the objects for what they are.”