Pablo Picasso

Two months until Christmas and -- yippee a reason to act like it has come early.

There is another important event on this day. In 1881 Pablo Picasso was born. Any art collector, indeed anyone with a brain, should know the name of the most prolific (according to the Guinness Book or Records) and innovative artist of the last century.

The Spanish painter and sculptor was born Pablo (Diego Jose'Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y) Picasso! However, he produced even more works (100,000 prints); 13,500 paintings; 34,000 book illustrations; 300 sculptures) than he had names.

There is a story of a man once daring to criticize Picasso to his face for his 'unrealistic' art. Picasso reportedly asked him to show him some realistic art. The man pulled out a photograph of his wife. Picasso observed, 'So your wife is two inches tall, two-dimensional, with no arms and no legs, and no color but only shades of gray?' The man reply was no recorded. Walk round one of Picasso's sculptures or watch how his Cubist work jumps off the canvas, showing every angle of his subject.

(You can also see this in Camila Morton's A year in High Heels)

Some of Pablo Picasso's famous Paintings:

Self Portrait