Page 79 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

THE RIVIER A AND THE ALPES M ARITIMES  77

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

Picasso, the giant of 20th-century art, spent most of his later life in Provence, inspired by its
luminous light and brilliant colours. He came first to Juan-les-Pins in 1920, and returned to
Antibes in 1946 with Françoise Gilot. He was given a studio in the seafront Grimaldi palace,
where, after wartime Paris, his work became infused with Mediterranean light and joyful
images. No other artist has succeeded with so many art forms, and the Antibes collection
is a taste of his versatility. He died at Mougins, aged 92.

Violin and Sheet of Music (1912),
now in Paris, is a Cubist collage
from the period when Picasso
experimented with different forms.
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907),
now in New York, was the first
Cubist painting. Its bold style
shocked the art world of the day.

La Joie de Vivre (1946), is
one of Picasso’s main works
from the Antibes period,
using favourite mytho­
logical themes. He is the
bearded centaur playing
the flute, and Françoise
Gilot is the Maenad who
dances while two fauns
leap about and a satyr
plays a panpipe.
The Goat (1946), also in
Antibes, is one of his best­ L’Homme au Mouton (1943)
known images. In 1950 he was sculpted in an afternoon.
made his famous goat It stands in the main square
sculpture using a wicker of Vallauris, also home of
basket as the ribcage. La Guerre et la Paix (1952).