You’re probably familiar with Picasso’s famous paintings, his rich biography or the artistic movement that characterizes him. You may also know where his most beautiful paintings are kept! The fact that he was an engraver and sculptor during his artistic career is no secret to you either.
But have you ever heard a few anecdotes about Pablo Picasso? We’ve all heard stories that have added to the fame of this famous 20th-century painter!
Read on… 😉
The cheque: Picasso and his signature
What could be more prestigious than owning a work by Picasso? His paintings sell for gold, and museums the world over display the artist’s canvases. But do you know what Pablo Picasso once confessed in an interview? He revealed that he was aware that his signature alone generated a major artistic interest in the buyers of his paintings. Yes, that’s right! People bought his paintings, not just for the beauty of the creation, but to own THE original signature of the great painter.
With this discovery under his belt, Pablo Picasso couldn’t get enough of signing… cheques! And so he began to pay for all his purchases by cheque. Isn’t it generous of him to offer his signature to shopkeepers?
The subtlety is easy to discover, however… The shopkeepers, proud to have obtained the original signature of the famous Pablo Picasso, are very careful not to risk losing it. As a result, they will never cash the famous cheque.
Win-win!
Picasso does a great deal of business by “treating” himself to multiple purchases with cheques that never make it to the bank! The recipients of the cheques proudly (and carefully!) displayed their copies.
Naturally, these cheques have increased in value over the years. Some have even been auctioned off at Drouot!
Waiter, the bill, please!
Picasso knew how to pull his weight. At the height of his fame, in the 1950s, while dining out with friends, he asked for the bill. When it came time to settle the bill, he suggested that the waiter scribble a small sketch of his hand on the tablecloth. Proud of this proposal, the waiter nods, and the artist complies. He drew a small picture as promised, then got up and left the restaurant.
The waiter catches up with him and tells him that he forgot to sign his sketch on the tablecloth!
Picasso proudly replied: “I’m buying the meal, not the restaurant!
The reunion: on the trail of his debut
Picasso made a kind of pilgrimage by returning to Paris, the city of his beginnings. Filled with emotion, he criss-crossed the capital, returning to his first painter’s studio. It was here, too, that he met up again with a homeless man he’d known in the past, in the same situation.
The artist stops by to share a few memories of the past.
Then he turns and heads for a garbage can, rummages around and pulls out a piece of paper, which he quickly smoothes over his leg. He makes a superb sketch on it, signed by his own hand, hands the paper to the homeless man and tells him word for word:“Here, buy yourself a nice house”.
Picasso made the most of the notoriety of his signature, but this act of generosity is well worth recounting!
Picasso burns his paintings
At the turn of the 20th century, the budding artist was struggling to get his career off the ground. Sharing a small apartment with a poet friend, his popularity wasn’t there, and money was scarce. His father does send him a few pennies in support from Spain, but daily living conditions remain precarious.
In order to heat his home, he burned his sketchbooks, and many of his paintings!
Guernica: a giant painting by Picasso
The story behind the painting “Guernica” is well known. In 937, war broke out in Spain, and the town of Guernica was savagely bombed to destruction.
Picasso hears the terrible news from a café in Paris. Shattered, he returned to his studio
and painted his famous Guernica, a gigantic canvas measuring 3.5 m high by 7.8 m wide.
One day, a German officer visiting his studio came across a reproduction of Guernica.
Dazzled by the canvas, he turns to the painter and asks, “Did you do this?”.
And Picasso replied: “No, it’s you”.
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