Pablo Now

When I was younger, especially during the 70's Picasso was often held up as the greatest living artist. Even people that didn't enjoy his work held this belief. They would point out that in his early years he was a highly proficient artist that could produce portraits and landscapes on par with the greats such as Rafael. Because of his established traditional ability haters of modern art would often  acknowledge his importance even though they hated his contemporary works. I heard the following comment quite often " I hate modern art, don't get it, but Picasso must be great at it because he was a talented tradition painter".

When looking back at Picasso's work today, the vast majority of his later work is garish and slapdash. He fell back on his fame and would just churn out childish paintings that people would eat it up just because of his name. I've noticed that current artists hardly ever tout Picasso as an artist they admire and want to emulate. Picasso will always feature prominent in art history because of his early cubist works and his huge popularity during a seismic shift in art style but his influence and relevance will continue to decline.

"He was a great traditional painter" argument for his importance in modern art is silly. This was more a reflection of his technical skill rather than his creative powers. There are huge aesthetic choices artists need to make involving composition, themes, colors, etc. that have nothing to do with technical skills. A great general does not need to be a great marksman. RIP Picasso, I hope you continua to fade away, likewise the piles of through-away art you produced during the last half of your life.