Picasso Ceramics Bird

One of the most prolific and revolutionary artists the world has ever seen, Pablo Picasso had a tremendous impact on the development of 20th-century modern art. Although he is best known for his association with the Cubist movement, which he founded with Georges Braque, Picasso’s influence extends to Surrealism, neoclassicism and Expressionism.

“Every act of creation is, first of all, an act of destruction,” the Spanish artist proclaimed. In Picasso's Cubist paintings, he emphasizes the two-dimensionality of the canvas, breaking with conventions regarding perspective, foreshortening and proportion. Picasso was inspired by Iberian and African tribal art. One of his most famous pre-Cubist works is Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), a painting considered immoral and shocking at the time for its depiction of nude women whose faces resemble Iberian tribal masks.

Picasso made many portraits in this style, most often of the women in his life, their expressively colored faces composed of geometric shards of surface planes. In Woman in a Hat (Olga), 1935, he painted his first wife as an assemblage of abstract forms, leaving the viewer to decipher the subject through the contrasting colors and shapes. Picasso was a tireless artist, creating more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, prints, ceramics and sculptures. Tracing his life’s work reveals the progression of modern art, on which he had an unparalleled influence.

Browse an expansive collection of Pablo Picasso's art on 1stDibs.

Whether you’re adding an eye-catching mid-century modern glazed stoneware bowl to your dining table or grouping a collection of decorative plates by color for the shelving in your living room, decorating and entertaining with antique and vintage ceramics is a great way to introduce provocative pops of colors and textures to a space or family meals.

Ceramics, which includes pottery such as earthenware and stoneware, has had meaningful functional value in civilizations all over the world for thousands of years. When people began to populate permanent settlements during the Neolithic era, which saw the rapid growth of agriculture and farming, clay-based ceramics were fired in underground kilns and played a greater role as important containers for dry goods, water, art objects and more.

Today, if an Art Deco floor vase, adorned in bright polychrome glazed colors with flowers and geometric patterns, isn’t your speed, maybe minimalist ceramics can help you design a room that’s both timeless and of the moment. Mixing and matching can invite conversation and bring spirited contrasts to your outdoor dining area. The natural-world details enameled on an Art Nouveau vase might pair well with the sleek simplicity of a modern serving bowl, for example.

In your kitchen, your cabinets are likely filled with ceramic dinner plates. You’re probably serving daily meals on stoneware dishes or durable sets of porcelain or bone china, while decorative ceramic dishes may be on display in your dining room. Perhaps you’ve anchored a group of smaller pottery pieces on your mantelpiece with some taller vases and vessels, or a console table in your living room is home to an earthenware bowl with a decorative seasonal collection of leaves, greenery and acorns.

Regardless of your tastes, however, it’s possible that ceramics are already in use all over your home and outdoor space. If not, why? Whatever your needs may be, find a wide range of antique and vintage ceramics on 1stDibs.