Why is Pablo Picasso an overrated painter?

[Anonymous]

A 1st grader could make better paintings than him. Anybody could make these paintings.

[DinaM]

Don't underestimate ol' Pablo based on a couple of pics you don't like. Dude was a pioneer in modern art and helped found or develop a lot of modern art lines, such as the cubism. He wasn't just a painter, either; he was a sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright... he did a LOT of things.

His earlier works were a lot more naturalistic, like the paintings from his blue period (1901–1904) or his rose period (904–1906), but later on he got tired of trying to be realistic with his paintings and got more experimental, getting into primitivism and then cubism, which you have found examples of here... and then he got tired of that and returned to a neoclassical style.

There's a LOT more to Picasso than just the cubism. He did hundreds of works in vastly different styles. The cubism tends to be remembered because it was new and different at the time... and it was also an example of the new roads painters and artists staked out for themselves after photography became a thing.

Think about it. The advent of photography changed the world of art. Before. artists had tried to be as realistic as possible... but who wants to sit as a model for a painting for hours upon hours at an end when they could just go to a photographer and have their picture taken in a second? So the painters had to think up other things to do... begin doing things that could NOT be done by a photographer.

A lot of people thought as you did, that the works were ugly and unimpressive and that a child could do better. But this WAS a step in a new and different direction for art, which could now go back to symbolism and expressionism in a new way.

Picasso helped stake out new directions for other artists. and as such he is remembered and revered not necessarily for doing pretty pictures (a lot of his art isn't very pretty at all) but for the influence he had on hundreds if not thousands of later artists, showing that it's not necessarily a bad thing to experiment

Picasso was also the first artist to become really famous in his own lifetime. Part of it was probably controversy. but it's still worth noting... the great artists before Picasso never got much recognition in their own lifetimes and didn't become famous until after they were dead. Picasso, however was the first artist to have a wide fanbase while he was still alive.

So I don't think that "why is Picasso an overrated painter" is quite the right question to ask. I mean, the reason you find him overrated is probably because you don't like his art. Which is fine; I'm not a huge fan of it either. But his influence on later artists, as well as his ability and willingness to work with MANY different styles, and try to experiment and invent new ways of presenting his art and his inner thoughts... I think that's worth at least a bit of respect.

(Yes, I did go to art school. ^_^)

[Powderpuff97]

Well during that time (1900s) people were still painting realism/ classical. He wanted to change how we see or view art by creating art that was different or art that didn’t follow the rules of looking “normal” he may be overrated to you but to me he changed how we view art. That’s where cubism, expressionism and other forms of art started to emerge. That’s why he’s so famous. You think a kid can paint better because a kid would paint something that you would see as normal and Picasso was not like that. Cubism is hard

[Powderpuff97]

I take that back about kids. They don’t paint normal not all

[Poormanscomedian]

I agree with you. This was true of his later work. His best was Blue Period and that ranks up there with the best.

I think he got lazy and greedy. He was very concerned with money. He cheated on his wife and lived with a 30 year old model and he was 73 . Refused to divorce his wife because she would get half of his money. What a worm. I really disliked him after I found that out.

[Poormanscomedian]

Funny, because I was talking to family and said my 4 year old great niece could paint what he did later.

[Kurαȷ]

Pablo Picasso was a child prodigy who surpassed his father, a professor at a school of fine arts, as a 13 year old.

His later works looked the way they looked, because Picasso wanted them to look that way, not because he "couldn't paint".

[Asker]

Okay then, fair point. But why is Picasso's cubist works more famous than those two paintings you showed?

Also, this is Mark Rothko's works. He's also a well-known painter. These paintings sell for millions of dollars.

[Kurαȷ]

Why? Because there is nothing remarkable about those two paintings.
Everyone who studied fine arts can paint like that, and if I didn't tell you Picasso made them, you would have no idea who did or even what century they are from.

People like Picasso, Rothko and Pollock became famous simply because they made remarkable art at times when art stopped being remarkable.

[sodas75]

His father was an academic painting instructor, these closely resemble like the brushwork of his father, I would be more inclined to think his father had a hand in these if you study his works. Picasso later works never resembled any of this level of finesse, once his father passed. I have never met an artist or art lover who was technically competent in painting who appreciated his body of work,

[abc3643]

No, but Jackson Pollock and, especially, Mark Rothko are.

[Asker]

I just googled who Mark Rothko is because I've never heard of him before. And wow. Just wow.

[Asker]

This must have taken him weeks and weeks to paint. So complex and intricate. Not.

[abc3643]

Yep...

"Oh, look, Mommy! I painted rectangles! Now give me $150,000,000!"

Rich people are stupid as shit.

[abc3643]

That particular Rothko is worth between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000.

[sodas75]

its more about money laundering than anything else

[hotstuffSRD]

Hahahahah 😂 LOL I don't understand these kind of arts tbh 😂

[tonyjohnc]

I agree totally but sadly none of us thought of doing theses paintings

[Asker]

"None of us thought of doing these?" I'm sure there's a little kid out there somewhere, who draws people with triangle shaped heads, big round noses, and uneven eyes. But people just say that kid draws bad. Yet, when Picasso draws like this, it's a masterpiece.

[Leafpool2]

Also he was a raging misogynist so. No thanks.

[bill_towers]

It is about rarity and money laundry.

[Gedaria]

He does nothing for me...