Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) is best known as a Cubist, but he was constantly experimenting with materials and technique in a life-long search for new forms of expression. He got his start, however, in the same way as every other artist of his generation, by studying traditional realism. The young Picasso was fortunate to have an early start through his father, who was an artist (specializing in still life and bird paintings) and drawing teacher. His parents recognized his propensity for art at an early age and his father gave Picasso his first drawing lessons and arranged his son's first 'exhibit', in a local barber shop, at the age of thirteen. Very much a traditionalist, his father was eager for his son to have a formal education and as many opportunities for study as possible, taking him to museums in Barcelona and Prado to study masterworks and enrolling him in local classes. When Pablo's father got a post at the Barcelona Academy, the young Picasso took the entrance exams to enter as a student. Picasso was only thirteen, but it is said his drawings impressed the judges greatly. His father even helped the boy establish his first painting studio (with frequent check-ins from his parent), where the boy completed many of these first paintings, such as Portrait of Aunt Pepa and The Altar Boy.
