# Tell me about Picasso **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332 "2011-11-18T11:30:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332/81 "2011-11-26T10:53:15Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > That sounds like one of the typical self aggrandizing stories that Picasso used to get his friends to spread around as part of his self publicising. So we’re back to “Picasso was a dick”…you realise _Surviving Picasso_ wasn’t a documentary, right? Yes, the man could be a colossal dick, _especially_ to his friends. But I’d really like some evidence for these “self aggrandizing stories that Picasso used to get his friends to spread around”, please. > [@](#): > > But if true it would suggest that he had a very loving, and more to the point loyal, father, who would say such things (actually its quite common amongst parents), or that he wasn’t a very good artist himself, teacher or not, and that maybe that he had rather low standards as a general rule. See, now you’re just having to pull stuff out of your arse to put Picasso down. That his dad was a professor of Fine Art at a succession of schools is a matter of record, not some story Picasso made up. Some of his work is freely available to view online - he was an acceptable professional artist. Not a great one, and frankly a bit obsessed with pigeons (maybe that’s what sold at the time) but there are a couple of those pigeon paintings that are reminiscent of Dürer or the like. And that Picasso got into art school at age 13, _after an examination_, is also not just a story. Richardson, in his excellent biography series, certainly doesn’t think so, and he had no quibble with showing Picasso’s dickish side. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332/82 "2011-11-26T11:05:47Z")
I haven’t watched Surviving Picasso, so most certainly haven’t based my judgement on it. As to his father being such and such, I do not dispute it, there was just a hint of irony in my previous, what I DO believe to be complete and utter B.S. is the story of his father being DISTRESSED because his son was SO very very talented, honest guvnor!. And yes Picasso was most certainly a dick. (To put it incredibly mildly) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332/83 "2011-11-26T12:28:26Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > As to his father being such and such, I do not dispute it, there was just a hint of irony in my previous, what I DO believe to be complete and utter B.S. is the story of his father being DISTRESSED because his son was SO very very talented, honest guvnor!. Of course. But is this a story _Picasso_ told? Richardson certainly debunks it in his biography, so it’s not as if it has any _serious_ currency even if it was often repeated. It’s like the crap about Washington and the cherry tree. Doesn’t mean Washington _didn’t_ lead the Revolution to victory. And if Picasso’s dad didn’t hand over his brushes in shame, doesn’t make Picasso _not_ a great painter. > [@](#): > > And yes Picasso was most certainly a dick. Especially to women. But that has fuck-all to do with the worth of his art. Like I said before, _Triumph of the Will_ is a celebration of one of the worst cultures that humanity has ever produced. But it’s a _great_ documentary - possibly the greatest ever made. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332/84 "2011-11-28T16:36:46Z")
If art needn’t have meaning, then what’s left? It needn’t be an actual representation of anything. It needn’t be made by humans, apparently. It needn’t be aesthetically pleasing. It needn’t be recognizable as distinct from mundane objects. What’s left? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332/85 "2011-11-28T17:02:56Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If art needn’t have meaning, then what’s left? It needn’t be an actual representation of anything. It needn’t be made by humans, apparently. It needn’t be aesthetically pleasing. It needn’t be recognizable as distinct from mundane objects. > > What’s left? Someone, somewhere, sometime, must _intend_ it to be art. I think that intentionality’s essential, the rest is commentary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-picasso/603332.md?page=4)