Sorrel Downer
It’s Picasso Year, in case you hadn’t noticed. April 8, 2023 marks a significant anniversary of the death of the great Spanish modern artist, and major exhibitions are happening across Spain and around the world commemorating his life and work
LOVE him or hate him (or quite like some of his stuff sometimes), Picasso achieved massive fame and success.
So you shouldn’t have any trouble with our Picasso Year Quiz. The questions are all multiple choice. Scroll down for answers and links to details of exhibitions.
1. Big anniversary – so what year did he die?
a) 1923
b) 1948
c) 1973
d) 1993
2. Where was he born?
a) Malaga
b) Barcelona
c) Torremolinos
d) Valencia
3. Which of these is Picasso’s first known oil painting?
4. If there is one painting associated with the Spanish Civil War, it’s Guernica. Where was it first exhibited?
a) Bilbao
b) Madrid
c) New York
d) Paris
5. He was a very busy artist indeed and left behind somewhere in the region of 20,000 works in one form or the other. Best known as a painter, he was creative in other ways. What discipline isn’t he famous for?
a) Poetry
b) Theatrical sets
c) Pottery
d) Embroidery
6.
Photograph: Museu Picasso, Barcelona
Over the space of five months, Picasso created a suite of 58 works called Las Meninas, 44 of which (including this one) were inspired by a painting by which artist?
a) Joan Miro
b) Modigliani
c) Diego Velasquez
d) Juan Gris
7. He named his daughter Paloma after
a) the universal symbol for peace
b) the pigeons flying around Malaga
c) the song, Paloma Blanca
d) the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova but had – famously – misheard her name
8.
Robert Capa’s iconic 1948 photo of the Spanish artist and his lover was taken on:
a) the Costa Brava
b) the Costa del Sol
c) the Costa Blanca
d) the French Riviera
9. Where did Picasso spend most of his life?
a) Malaga
b) Barcelona
c) Paris
d) The French Riviera
10. His name and his art are known around the world. But could you pick the young artist out from a lineup?
ANSWERS
1c) Picasso died on April 8, 1973, aged 91. This is the 50th anniversary of his death.
2a) Picasso was born in Malaga. His family lived in Plaza de la Merced for the first 10 years of his life, and the family home is now a museum, the Museo Casa Natal de Picasso [https://museocasanatalpicasso.malaga.eu/].
3b) El Picador, painted by Picasso in 1889 when he was eight years old, and a painting he kept all his life. The others are: a) Portrait of Gertrude Stein, also by Picasso but done 16 years later; c) Blue Coat by Paul Klee (aged 69); d) Last Supper by Emil Nolde (aged 42).
4d) Picasso was living in Paris when he painted Guernica in 1937. It was first shown at the International Exposition in Paris the same year, before being sent to MoMA in New York, where it stayed until finally coming to Spain after Franco’s death. It is now at the Reina Sofia in Madrid.
5d) Embroidery.
6c) Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, painted way back in 1656. The masterpiece by the Sevilla-born Velazquez caught the eye of the young Picasso during one of his many trips to the Prado Museum while studying art in Madrid, and you can still see it there today. Picasso’s interpretations are part of the permanent collection at the Museu Picasso, Barcelona.
7b) The pigeons in Plaza de la Merced, Malaga, that he could see from the window of his family home obviously had a profound impression on the young Picasso.
8d) The French Riviera. It shows Picasso (65) and the artist François Gilot (25). Although they never married (Picasso was already married to the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova), they met in 1943, had two children, and remained together for almost a decade.
9c) Paris. Picasso’s family left Malaga when he was 10 (for A Coruña). He lived in Barcelona for close to nine years (1885-1904) but began spending an increasing amount of time in Paris, and left Spain for good in 1904, remaining in Paris for 63 years, before moving to the French Riviera.
10a) Pablo Picasso, photographed in 1908. The others are: Antoni Gaudi (b); George Bernard Shaw (c); and, another Spanish artist being commemorated this year, Joaquin Sorolla (c) who died 100 years ago this August.
For details of all major exhibitions, visit Spain is Culture
Fabulous at anytime: Museo Picasso Malaga and Museu Picasso Barcelona
READ MORE:
- Childhood inspiration: On the trail of the young Pablo Picasso through Spain
- Stepping inside Picasso’s childhood home in Malaga on Spain’s Costa del Sol
