Born in Málaga, Spain, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) is undoubtedly one of the most famous artists ever and for good reason. His name is virtually synonymous with modern art, and it doesn’t hurt that he fits the commonly held image of the outlaw genius whose ambitions are matched by an appetite for living large. He was a champion womanizer and wasn’t hesitant about spending the money fame had brought him. (By the late ’50s, he owned five villas in the south of France.) And yet there’s no denying the fact that he changed the course of art history with revolutionary innovations that include collage and, of course, Cubism, which broke the stranglehold of representational subject matter on art, and set the tempo for other 20th-century artists. He utterly transformed multiple mediums, making so many works that it’s hard to grasp his achievement.
Still, that hasn’t stopped us from trying with this list of best Picasso paintings and sculptures, scored 1 through 10, with some available to see at NYC’s art museums.