In 1901, Pablo Picasso's close friend died. Pablo became very sad. Around the same time he began painting in Paris. For the next four years his paintings were dominated by the color blue. Many of the subjects were sad and sombre looking. He painted people with elongated features and faces. Some of his paintings from this period include Poor People on the Seashore and The Old Guitarist.

Pablo Picasso then fell in love with a French model. He began to use warmer colors in his paintings including pinks, reds, oranges, and beiges. Art historians call this time in Pablo's life the Rose Period. He also began to paint happier scenes such as circuses. Some of his paintings from this period include The Peasants, Family of Saltimbanques and Acrobat's Family with a Monkey.

One of Pablo Picasso's most famous periods is the cubist period. In 1907 Picasso began to experiment with a new style of painting. He worked with another artist named Georges Braque. By 1909 they had created a completely new style of painting called Cubism.

Cubism is when the artist paints an object, like a bottle, from lots of different angles all in the same picture. So you see the front, the back and the sides of the bottle at the same time. Cubism aims to show all of the possible viewpoints of a person or an object all at once. It is called Cubism because the items represented in the artworks look like they are made out of cubes and other geometrical shapes. The subjects are analysed and broken up into different sections. Then the sections are put back together and painted from different perspectives and angles.

Some of Picasso's Cubism paintings include Three Musicians, Harlequin with Violin,

Although Picasso would continue to experiment with Cubism, around 1921 he went through a period of painting more classical style paintings. He borrowed ideas from Renaissance painters such as Raphael. He created powerful characters that almost appeared to be three-dimensional, like statues. Some of his works in this style include The Pipes of Pan and Woman in White.

Around 1924 Pablo became interested in the Surrealist movement. Surrealist paintings weren't supposed to make any sense. They often appear like something you would see in a dream or a nightmare. Although Picasso didn't become a member of the movement, he did incorporate some of their ideas into his paintings. Some people called this time his Monster period. Examples of the surrealism influence on Picasso's art include Guernica and The Red Armchair.