The Studio

I had a professor in college that started his lectures with “Little Known and Useless Facts of History”.  He captured our attention and of all the things I recall from history courses, these are the ones I can pull up the fastest in my mind.  We all love trivia and fun facts.  So today I am introducing “Little Known and Useless Facts of Art”. 

Picasso’s Dog

Picasso’s Cat

I would, of course, start with the topic of pets, especially dogs.  Did you know that Pablo Picasso loved animals?  During his adult life he had many animals as pets including a monkey, an owl, a goat, a turtle and a pack of dogs and cats.

Here is a link to an interesting article about Picasso and his dogs by Stanley Coren in Modern Dog Magazine.  This is part of that article: 

“In fact, Picasso’s life was full of dogs. He had many, of many different breeds, including terriers, Poodles, a Boxer, Dachshunds, a German Shepherd, Afghan Hounds, and numerous “random bred” dogs. Many of these were “borrowed” or “stolen” from friends and associates in the same way that many of his women were. The dogs were as much a part of his life as his female companions, and they went everywhere with him. He also gave dogs to his friends as gifts, in part to ensure that he would never be in their company without a dog. When his various relationships broke up, Picasso would often leave all of his goods behind him and go off to live in a new place with a new woman. Usually, he would only arrange to have a few things returned to him, including some of his recent paintings, some of his brushes and paint, and his dog or dogs. The rest was all left to friends or to the woman whom he was leaving.”