1stDibs ExpertNovember 13, 2024
Picasso's four art periods are called the Blue period, the Rose period, the African-influenced period and the Cubist period. The Blue period coincided with the turn of the 20th century and included works like The Old Guitarist and The Blue Room. As its name suggests, this period was marked by Picasso's use of shades of blues and greens, which instilled in his paintings a sense of melancholy. Around 1905, Picasso entered his Rose period, adopting a brighter palette of oranges and pinks. Significant works from this time include Autoportrait à la palette and Garçon à la pipe. Many experts point to the 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon as the start of Picasso's African-influenced period, during which Picasso employed a style inspired by Iberian and African tribal art. Picasso made many portraits in this style, most often of the women in his life, their expressively colored faces broken into geometric shards of surface planes. By the 1910s, this style had evolved into Cubism, with Picasso fragmenting his subjects into shapes. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of Pablo Picasso art.