Pablo Picasso died on , in , , while Picasso and his wife Jacqueline entertained friends for dinner. His were "Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can't drink any more." He was interred at Castle Vauvenargues' park, in , . Jacqueline Roque prevented his children Claude and Paloma from attending the funeral.

Pacifism

Picasso remained neutral during the , and , refusing to fight for any side or country. Picasso never commented on this but encouraged the idea that it was because he was a . Some of his contemporaries (including Braque) felt that this neutrality had more to do with cowardice than principle. As a Spanish citizen living in , Picasso was under no compulsion to fight against the invading Germans in either world war. In the , service for Spaniards living abroad was optional and would have involved a voluntary return to the country to join either side. While Picasso expressed anger and condemnation of and the through his art he did not take up arms against them.

He also remained aloof from the independence movement during his youth despite expressing general support and being friendly with activists within it. No political movement seemed to compel his support to any great degree, though he did become a member of the .

During the Second World War, Picasso remained in Paris when the Germans occupied the city. The Nazis hated his style of painting, so he was not able to show his works during this time. Retreating to his studio, he continued to paint all the while. Although the Germans outlawed bronze casting in Paris, Picasso continued regardless, using bronze smuggled to him by the French resistance.

Arguably Picasso's most famous work is his depiction of the , — . This large canvas embodies for many the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war.

After the Second World War, Picasso rejoined the , and even attended an international peace conference in . But party criticism of a portrait of as insufficiently realistic cooled Picasso's interest in Communist politics, though he remained a loyal member of the Communist Party until his death. His beliefs tended towards .

Picasso's work

Picasso's work is often categorized into "periods". While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the (1901–1904), the (1905–1907), the (1908–1909), (1909–1912), and (1912–1919).

Before 1901

Picasso's training under his father began before 1890. His progress can be traced in the collection of early works now held by the in , which provides one of the most comprehensive records extant of any major artist's beginnings. During 1893 the juvenile quality of his earliest work falls away; by 1894 his career as a painter can be said to begin. The academic realism apparent in the works of the mid-1890s is well displayed in The First Communion (1896), a large composition that depicts his sister, Lola. In the same year, at the age of 14, he painted Portrait of Aunt Pepa, a vigorous and dramatic portrait that has been called "without a doubt one of the greatest in the whole history of Spanish painting."

In 1897 his realism became tinged with influence, in a series of landscape paintings rendered in nonnaturalistic violet and green tones. What some call his Modernist period (1899-1900) followed. His exposure to the work of , , and , combined with his admiration for favorite old masters such as , led Picasso to a personal version of modernism in his works of this period.

Blue Period

For more details on this topic, see .

Picasso's Blue Period (1901–1904) consists of somber paintings rendered in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors. This period's starting point is uncertain; it may have begun in Spain in the spring of 1901, or in Paris in the second half of the year. In his austere use of color and sometimes doleful subject matter— and are frequent subjects—Picasso was influenced by a trip through Spain and by the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas. Starting in autumn of 1901 he painted several posthumous portraits of Casagemas, culminating in the gloomy allegorical painting La Vie, painted in 1903 and now in the .

The same mood pervades the well-known etching The Frugal Repast (1904), which depicts a blind man and a sighted woman, both emaciated, seated at a nearly bare table. Blindness is a recurrent theme in Picasso's works of this period, also represented in The Blindman's Meal (1903, the ) and in the portrait of Celestina (1903). Other frequent subjects are , and . The harlequin, a comedic character usually depicted in checkered patterned clothing, became a personal symbol for Picasso.

Rose Period

For more details on