Pablo Picasso: Even a Cooking Pot Can Scream

The talent of his son Pablo did not remain hidden from José Ruiz Blasco for long. When he saw the three-year-old making his first attempts at painting in the kitchen, he immediately recognised that his boy was exceptionally talented. Picasso's father could be relied upon to judge his ability, as he was himself a painter and drawing teacher at the art school in Málaga. When Pablo was seven years old, his father began to teach him. The little boy never lacked zeal and self-confidence. Picasso later said he was able to draw like Raphael at a very early age. His father's works, however, did not impress him: "My father painted pictures for dining rooms; partridges or pigeons and rabbits: fur and feathers were on them, birds and flowers his speciality," he told his friend Jaime Sabartés. This was one reason why Pablo later decided he would no longer sign his paintings "P. Ruiz", only with "Picasso", his mother's maiden name.