Picasso Art Projects

Create Picasso-styled portraits in monochromatic colors

Art projects imitating Pablo Picasso's various styles offer an opportunity for everyone to have success. His surreal, monochromatic, abstract and Cubist works inspire even unskilled artists to enjoy art projects. The nature of much of Picasso's art, with its surreal slant on reality, furnishes a forgiving medium for beginning artists. Create these projects with artists of all skill levels and ages to gain an understanding of Picasso's various styles.

Two Halves

Introduce Picasso's famous Cubist-style portraits with an activity that compares the Cubist style to a realistic portrait. Have students study several examples of Picasso's portraits, noting the shapes and lines found in each.

Have students create a self-portrait containing two halves. Students create one-half in a realistic style containing typical facial colors in a warm palette of reds, yellows and oranges. The other half consists of Cubist-style facial features created in geometric shapes. The palette on the Cubist style of the portrait incorporates a cool-colored palette of greens, purples and blues.

Collage

One type of Picasso-styled art project incorporates the collage technique of cutting and adhering paper to another surface. Provide sturdy background paper, magazine pictures, glue and scissors to complete this project.

Cut various facial features from magazines. Cut out eyes, noses, ears, lips, hair, foreheads, cheeks and other features separately. Arrange and glue various facial parts on background paper to create a portrait in the style of Picasso's Cubist portraits.

Monochromatic Art

Monochromatic painting projects imitate Picasso's blue period, during which he struggled with sadness over a friend's suicide. Supply a limited palette of blue, white, gray, black and brown paint for this project.

Picasso included gloomy subject matter such as poor families in tattered surroundings. Stress the monochromatic color palette and practice creating tints and tones of the chosen base color in which to paint all subject matter in the project.

Geometric Shape Art

Mimic Picasso's Cubism style using geometric shapes to create a collage art project. Study Picasso's work such as the "Three Musicians" to identify the geometric shapes composing various paintings.

Cut different-sized shapes from colored paper. Try a variety of shapes, sizes and colors to create the collage. Subject matter might include people, animals, plants or scenery. Decide on the composition of the entire project before beginning to glue it to avoid errors.

References

• National Gallery of Art: Picasso
• Art Institute of Chicago: Pablo Picasso and the "Blue Period"
• Pablo Picasso, His Life and Art: Cubism

Resources

• Art Cyclopedia: Pablo Picasso