Picasso's Fame is the Product of Tastemakers

We went to the Picasso museum in Malaga, Spain, last week. We went even though we knew we probably wouldn’t love it and our time was limited. None of us are Picasso fans, but we recognize the oversized influence he has on modern art. So we got the other sites we really wanted to see (the Castillo de Gibralfaro and the Alcazaba) out of the way, and then we wandered in.

I tried to go in with an open mind, ready to have my opinion changed. I looked at the art. I pondered and wondered. Aaaaaand….. nothing. I’m not an expert in art or art history, so take this as the uneducated opinion that it is. Still, isn’t the beauty of art that it democratizes? Shouldn’t my opinion of Picasso’s work count even if I’m not well-read on how cubism led to constructivism and neo-plasticism?

For all the pictures and paintings I saw by Picasso last week, most repelled me. They seemed designed purely to shock and provoke. Perhaps most critically, they weren’t good. The handful I enjoyed most were the ones that…