Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881 to Jose Ruiz, and Maria Picasso. Rather than adopt the common name Ruiz, the young Picasso took the rarer name of his mother. Picasso's genius manifested itself early. At the age of 10 he made his first paintings and at the age of 14, completed the one-month qualifying examination of the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day. From there he went to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, returning in 1900 to Barcelona, where he frequented the city's famous cabaret of artists. The years of 1901 to 1904, known as the "blue period" because of the blue tonality of Picasso's paintings were a time of frequent chang