The Most Famous Works of Pablo Picasso

How well do you know Pablo Picasso and his work? During his long life, which ended in 1973 at the age of 91, Picasso painted approximately 13,500 paintings and created nearly 100,000 prints and engravings. Many of these works have fascinating stories behind them.

The Old Guitarist (1903–04)
The painting, housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, was created in 1903–04 and is one of the saddest compositions in the entire history of painting.

Boy with a Pipe (1905)
Picasso painted this work shortly after moving to Montmartre, Paris’s artistic neighborhood. At the time, it impressed his French contemporaries Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. Although critics did not consider it one of Picasso’s finest works, it became a global icon after selling for a record $104 million.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)
Picasso’s contemporaries considered this painting an insult to modern art. But that is precisely why Les Demoiselles d’Avignon became one of Picasso’s most recognizable works. Although the title refers to the French city of Avignon, Picasso found his inspiration in a neighborhood in Barcelona that was known at the time as a meeting place for prostitutes.

Girl Before a Mirror (1932)
This work explores what a person really sees when looking in a mirror. The woman holding a mirror on the left side of the composition is painted in lighter, more vivid colors than her reflection, which is much darker and even seems to be crying.

Guernica (1937)
Painted in 1937 and now displayed at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, this is not only one of Picasso’s key works but also one of the most significant paintings in art history. Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, it depicts the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in April 1937 and also stands as an ominous prophecy of the horrors of the coming Second World War.

Which of Picasso’s paintings made the strongest impression on you?