Pablo Picasso - Before Orion

“It is not sufficient to know an artist’s works – it is also necessary to know when he did them, why, how, under what circumstances… Someday there will undoubtedly be a science – it may be called the science of man – which will seek to learn more about man in general through the study of creative man. I often think about such a science, and I want to leave to posterity a documentation that will be as complete as possible. That’s why I put a date on everything I do.” – Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Cave Art Before Orion Bernie Taylor — Pablo Picasso’s inspiration for his *Les Demoiselles d’Avignon* (1907) that signaled the dawn of modern art was from Paleolithic masks in the Altamira Cave, Cantabria, Spain.

Pablo Picasso Night Fishing at Antibes Cave Art Before Orion Bernie Taylor — The inspiration for Pablo Picasso’s *Night Fishing at Antibes* (1939) was a Paleolithic mask in the Altamira Cave, Cantabria, Spain.

From Bernie’s Blog

Picasso’s Ice Age Inspiration for Guernica?

This is where Picasso would have stopped to raise his lamp closer to […]

Audio Podcast Interviews

The Art Thief on Ignorance Was Bliss podcast with host Kate Wallinga

Videos

Pareidolia and the human mind as viewed through the works of Pablo Picasso and Upper Paleolithic cave artists. Picasso and the Lost Art of Pareidolia (PDF) presentation given at the 2021 The Arts in Society conference. More academic presentations.

Exploring Picasso’s Ice Age inspirations for Guernica, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and other works. More presentations.

The untold story of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (PDF) as presented at the London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in 2020. More academic presentations.

Was the first art constructed by the hands of people or did we identify art in the world around us? Consider Pablo Picasso’s revelation about humanity from the Paleolithic Cave of Altamira and a more recent intriguing observation. More presentations.

The evidence shows that Pablo Picasso’s masks in his Les Demoiselles d’Avignon were not copied from African masks. They are instead found at the Spanish Cave of Altamira.

Hour English/Spanish presentation examining the method of Pablo Picasso’s genius. This includes a close examination of his Paleolithic cave art sources for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Guernica and other cubism works.

Hour presentation exploring the genius of Pablo Picasso. This includes a close examination of his Paleolithic cave art sources for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Guernica and other cubism works.

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The original Gallery of Discs image in the El Castillo Cave was taken by the esteemed Spanish photographer Pedro Saura. The Gorham's Etching image from Gorham's Cave was photographed by the paleoarchaeologist Dr. Francesco d'Errico. Rights for use of these original images were paid directly to the photographers. All interpretations of the original Altamira, Grotte de Pair-non-Pair, Gallery of Discs and Gorham's Etching images are by Bernie Taylor and further discussed in Before Orion: Finding the Face of the Hero.