While touring Museu Picasso, our guide whisked us through the museum like carving out the heart of a watermelon so one has the option to go back for more pithy parts skipped along the way. I was thunderstruck right at the beginning of the tour by this self portrait painted by 14 years old'ish Pablo Picasso while under the tutelage of his father José Ruiz y Blasco:
The guide gleefully emphasized the youthful exuberance of Pablo Ruiz y Blasco as he took his mother's unique surname "Picasso" because of the pedestrian nature of his father's Ruiz y Blasco. Nonetheless, José Ruiz y Blasco forged Pablo Picasso's raw artistic talent with classic Realism training as Pablo Picasso came to grips with the motor control necessary to paint with light, shadow and finesse so deft that his art would transcend into pseudo-immortality.
This was at the very beginning of the tour, and while I have so many pictures from this museum, I highly suggest you check out the whole "watermelon" in person after you've overdosed on Gaudi. Nude ahead, but tasteful nudity.
