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Where were you when Picasso was shot?

Of course, Picasso wasn't shot. But he died forty years ago today (April 8th), and although I was very young at the time, I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news. I was eleven, I had returned home from school and was watching a British early evening kids' programme called "Blue Peter", and they announced that this very famous artist called Pablo Picasso had just died. They showed one of his paintings, and tried to talk about the picture and the whole event in a way that eleven year olds could understand. I don't remember what the picture was, but I think it was a Cubist painting, so the presenters did something right. I think this may have been the first time I ever encountered the name and the work of Picasso.

In honour of the great man, here's the Picasso painting that will always be the one I return to:
"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," oil on canvas, 1907


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