Welcome to History's Not Boring by kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn.
SPEAKER_00Before we jump in, a big hello to Rose, age 8. This one is for you. And a warm shout out to Podrage Burke, listening all the way from County Kildare, Island!
SPEAKER_01We are so glad you're both listening today, Podraig and Rose, because we are heading over to Europe to uncover one of the wildest mines in history. Wait, how wild are we talking? Try this on for size. Imagine making one piece of art every single day. If you did that every single day, it would take you 405 years to make as much art as today's historical figure.
SPEAKER_00405 years? No way! I can barely finish one drawing without taking a snack break. My hand would completely fall off.
SPEAKER_01It is true! He created an astonishing 147,800 artworks in his lifetime, earning him an official Guinness World Record.
SPEAKER_00147,800? Who was this guy? A human printing press?
SPEAKER_01Nope. He was Pablo Picasso, born in Spain in 1881. He is the man who taught the whole world that art didn't have to look normal, it could look like absolutely anything. So, let's set the stage. The date is October 25th, 1881, in the sunny coastal city of Malaga, Spain.
SPEAKER_00And his full name was a record breaker all by itself, right?
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely! His full birth name was 20 words long. Ready? Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno, Maria de los Remedios, Cipriano de la Santissima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.
SPEAKER_00That is not a name. That is an entire paragraph. Imagine trying to fit that on a homework assignment.
SPEAKER_01It would take up the whole page. But he wouldn't be doing normal homework anyway. Most babies say mama or dada first. But Picasso's very first word was piz. Piz? What does that mean? Pizza? Nope. It is short for lapis, which is the Spanish word for pencil. He was literally begging to draw before he could even form a full sentence.
SPEAKER_00That is incredible. I guess he was just born with art in his blood.
SPEAKER_01He really was. His father, Jose Ruiz, was an art teacher who specialised in painting pigeons. He taught young Pablo everything he knew, but Pablo learned a little too fast. What do you mean? By the time Picasso was just 13 years old, his father asked him to finish a painting of a pigeon. When his dad saw what Pablo painted, he was completely stunned. Did he give him a bad grade? The total opposite! The legend goes that his dad handed Pablo his own paintbrushes and palettes and declared that his 13-year-old son was already a master. His dad actually gave up painting completely because Pablo was just too good.
SPEAKER_00Whoa! Giving up your own brushes because your kid is that amazing? That's huge. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01By 1900, at age 19, Picasso moved to Paris, France, which was the art capital of the world. But he didn't just want to be good at painting normal things. He wanted to start an absolute revolution. At first, life in Paris was really hard. Between 1901 and 1904, he went through what we call the Blue Period. Why the Blue Period?
SPEAKER_00Did he only eat blueberries?
SPEAKER_01No, he was very poor, freezing cold in his apartment and feeling really sad. So he only used shades of blue and green paint.
SPEAKER_00The paintings looked incredibly gloomy. That makes sense. If I was freezing, I would probably paint ice cubes.
SPEAKER_01Well, speaking of cubes, he soon met another brilliant painter named Georges Brac. They started looking at ancient African masks and got an amazing idea. Wait, what kind of idea? They decided that portraits were boring if they just looked like normal photographs. So, around 1907, they invented a brand new, mind-bending style called Cubism.
SPEAKER_00Cubism? So now he actually is painting ice cubes.
SPEAKER_01Sort of. They took people, guitars and fruit and broke them up into sharp geometric shapes, like a shattered mirror. And here is the craziest part. They painted them from several sides at the exact same time. Wait, what? How does that even work? Imagine looking straight at the front of someone's face, but also seeing the side of their head in the exact same picture. He might paint both of your eyes on the exact same side of your nose, or put your mouth up by your ear. Ew, that sounds like a terrifying mutant alien. People were totally shocked. When they first saw these cubist paintings, critics thought it was a terrible joke.
SPEAKER_00Some people even laughed at him. Did he get in trouble for making mutant art?
SPEAKER_01At first, people were furious, but then they stopped and stared. They realised he wasn't just drawing badly. He was showing all the different angles of a person at once, making art feel like a three-dimensional puzzle on a flat canvas.
SPEAKER_00People were absolutely amazed. So he became famous for painting puzzles. But did he ever get into real trouble? Not just art trouble.
SPEAKER_01Actually, yes. This is one of the wildest stories. In 1911, the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, was stolen right out of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The Mona Lisa! Just gone! Yep, the real thief was a man who hid in a broom closet overnight and just walked out with the painting under his coat. But guess who the police suspected?
SPEAKER_00No way. Picasso?
SPEAKER_01Yes. The police actually brought Picasso in for intense questioning. They even raided and searched his apartment looking for the Mona Lisa. They looked in his closets, under his rugs, everywhere. Was it under his bed? Was he the mastermind? No, he didn't steal it. But he had accidentally bought some small stolen statues from a sketchy guy without knowing they were stolen from the same museum. Picasso was so panicked, he almost threw the statues into the Seine River to hide them.
SPEAKER_00Oh man. That is a close call. I bet his heart was pounding like a drum.
SPEAKER_01He stayed out of jail, luckily. Decades later, his most powerful moment came in 1937, during the terrible Spanish Civil War. A war? That sounds scary. It was. A Spanish town called Guernica was bombed by aeroplanes, and thousands of innocent people were hurt. Picasso was so incredibly angry and heartbroken that he painted a massive mural to show the world the true horrors of war.
SPEAKER_00How massive are we talking? Like the size of a garage door?
SPEAKER_01Try the size of a city bus. The painting, called Guernica, was 11 feet 5 inches tall and over 25 feet wide. 25 feet? That's as long as my whole classroom. And he only used black, white, and grey paint, so it looked like a gritty, tragic newspaper photo. It travelled the world to raise money for victims and became one of the most famous anti-war paintings in history.
SPEAKER_00Really did teach the world that art could do anything. It can be a puzzle or a giant megaphone for peace.
SPEAKER_01He really did, and he never stopped working. If you average it out, from age 13 to his death at age 91 in 1973, he made over five artworks every single day.
SPEAKER_00That is how he reached 147,800 artworks. I still can't believe that number.
SPEAKER_01It's true! Over 13,000 paintings, 100,000 prints, 34,000 book illustrations, and hundreds of sculptures and ceramics. He was a creative machine.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I know he painted mutants and giant war murals, but did he have any weird hobbies? Like, did he collect anything strange?
SPEAKER_01Well, he absolutely loved animals, and he let them run completely wild in his house. He had a pet goat named Esmerelda, who just wandered around his fancy villa, chewing on whatever she wanted.
SPEAKER_00Ew, a goat indoors? That means goat poop on the expensive rugs.
SPEAKER_01Probably. But his absolute favourite pet in the world was a little wiener dog, a Daxund named Lump.
SPEAKER_00Lump? That's a hilarious name for a dog. It sounds like a potato.
SPEAKER_01Lump was his best friend. One time, Lump actually took a huge bite right out of one of Picasso's artworks.
SPEAKER_00The dog ate a Picasso. That's like eating millions of dollars for a snack.
SPEAKER_01Picasso didn't even care. He just loved that little dog so much. He even painted a special portrait of Lump on a dinner plate, just so the dog could have his own spot at the table.
SPEAKER_00Best dog dad ever. I guess if you make 147,800 artworks, you can afford to let your dog eat one.
SPEAKER_01Alright, Finn, it's time for the quiz. Let's see how much you remember about the man who broke all the rules of art.
SPEAKER_00Okay, my brain is ready. No mutant puzzle questions, please. I'll do my best. First question.
SPEAKER_01What was Picasso's very first word as a baby? Next one. How many total artworks did Picasso create in his lifetime to win a Guinness World Record? Question 3. What was the name of the new art style he invented where faces were broken into shapes? Here's number four. Which famous missing painting did the police think Picasso stole in 1911? Last question. What was the name of his favourite pet wiener dog? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is, his first word was piz, which is short for the Spanish word for pencil. For question two, he created an astonishing 147,800 artworks. Number three, the answer is he invented cubism. Question 4. The police thought he stole the Mona Lisa. And the final answer is his favourite dog was named Lump.
SPEAKER_00That was awesome! I think my favourite part was the little dog eating the million dollar painting. Good boy Lump. He probably thought it was a tasty snack.
SPEAKER_01I loved the Mona Lisa high story. Picasso was such a rebel, always keeping everyone on their toes.
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SPEAKER_01Yes, please, it really helps the show. Oh, and don't forget to check out our site, kidopoly.com. We've got tons of fun learning games and cool activities there for you to explore.
SPEAKER_00And if you want a shout out on the show, like Rose and Paudrig, or just want to tell us your favourite history fact, email us at hello at kidopoly.com.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for exploring history with us today. Never stop creating.
SPEAKER_00See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye.