A few interesting facts:

• He was born in a family of an artist and a teacher of a school of fine arts, so his talent for drawing was recognized and had the opportunity to develop at an early age.
• He often uses a pigeon in his paintings, in memory of his father, because when he first learned to paint Picasso began by drawing pigeons (in his father’s studio).
• Picasso preferred his mother’s name to his father’s because she had always encouraged him to follow his father’s atypical style. His father, on the other hand, was a stickler for more classical drawings.
• At a time when Picasso’s work was not a success, it was the Americans Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo who were his greatest benefactors, and who held exhibitions of his work at their home.
• Picasso is the most expensive artist in the world and he is considered to be the founder of Cubism.