Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artist who was particularly known for his paintings. He lived from 1881 to 1973. He mainly painted in the form of cubism, which uses geometric shapes and planes to create images. Although he was Spanish, he spent most of his adult life in France creating artwork. As all artists do, Picasso had several influences on his artwork. For a short period of time, African masks were a major influence. He painted in a style in which he used neutral colors and humans had distorted facial features. Picasso often painted his wives in a way that depicted their personality and the way they treated him. He had several different "periods" in which his paintings were themed. Picasso's blue period is when he painted in blue tones.