Teaching Picasso Today: Challenges and Controversies in Art Education

Pablo Picasso is considered a representative artist who transformed modern art through innovation, yet he has also caused controversy due to his pessimistic view of women and the complexity of his private life. The women in his works reflect not only Picasso’s emotional changes and personal relationships but also the patriarchal social structure of his time, going far beyond simple artistic expression. His famous remark, “goddesses or doormats,” illustrates his attitude toward women and shows how strongly the position of women in his art depended on historical conditions and his personal experiences.

Picasso’s depictions of women were largely based on his muses and lovers. Through Cubist techniques, he deconstructed and recombined women’s faces and bodies, visualizing complex emotions and the violence of his era. For example, The Weeping Woman, modeled after Dora Maar, symbolizes the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War and portrays women as figures who internalize the suffering of war. Meanwhile, portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter reveal his idealized view of femininity, emphasizing sensuality and soft, rounded forms. In his relationship with Olga Khokhlova, he initially depicted her as elegant and classical, but as their relationship deteriorated, her image appeared increasingly distorted and fragmented. This suggests that the chronology of Picasso’s works mirrors his emotional fluctuations and the shifts in his relationships with women.

During Picasso’s lifetime, the art world was dominated by male-centered power structures, and women were often treated as subjects to be consumed as artistic inspiration. Within this context, Picasso’s objectification of women is connected to the traditional practices of the era. However, modern criticism no longer interprets this solely as a matter of artistic style or

personal temperament but as part of a broader structure involving power abuse and sexual domination. After the MeToo movement, his relationships with women were reevaluated. His granddaughter Marina Picasso’s description of him “crushing women on the canvas” revealed how his abuse of power operated both inside and outside his art.

In 2023, the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death, major exhibitions were held worldwide, but they also included criticism regarding his treatment of women. Contemporary artists and scholars reinterpret Picasso’s work by addressing the restoration of women’s agency, deconstructing contextual narratives, and confronting the aggression embedded in his female imagery. As a result, the depiction of women in Picasso’s works is now approached through discussions of structural gender issues, authorship, and cultural prejudice, rather than purely from an aesthetic perspective. Today, his works prompt us to reevaluate our assumptions about artistic authority and the position of women in art. These critical perspectives form an important bridge connecting past and present, offering new insights for both artists and audiences.