FRANCIS PICABIA
Paris, 1879 – Paris, 1953

François Marie Martinez Picabia was born in Paris on 22 January 1879 to a Spanish father and a French mother. He moved through Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dada and abstraction, reinventing his language at every stage.

Formative years (1895–1908)

• 1895–1897 Attends the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, then studies with Albert Charles Wallet, Ferdinand Humbert and Fernand Cormon.
• 1902–1903 In the winter, begins painting in the Impressionist manner. In 1903 he exhibits for the first time at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Indépendants.
• 1905 First solo exhibition at the Galerie Haussmann, Paris.

From the avant-gardes to abstraction (1908–1914)

• From 1908 His works show elements of Fauvism, Neo-Impressionism, Cubism and other abstract approaches.
• 1911–1912 Joins the Puteaux group and becomes friends with Marcel Duchamp and Guillaume Apollinaire.
• From 1912 Develops a personal synthesis of Cubism and Fauvism, working in an abstract vein until the early 1920s.
• 1913 Exhibits at the Armory Show and visits New York, where he enters the avant-garde scene. Alfred Stieglitz gives him a solo show at his gallery 291.

Dada and beyond (1915–1924)

• 1915 Begins his mechanomorphic period. With Duchamp and other artists, he promotes and takes part in Dada events in New York.
• 1916–1917 Lives in Barcelona. In 1917 he publishes his first collection of poems and the first issues of the magazine 391, modelled on Stieglitz’s 291.
• Following years Takes part in the Dada movement in Zurich and Paris, causing a scandal at the Salon d’Automne. As early as 1921, he accuses Dada of no longer being “new.”
• 1922 Moves to Tremblay-sur-Mauldre, near Paris, and returns to figurative painting.
• 1924 Attacks André Breton and the Surrealists in the pages of 391.

Later years (1925–1953)

• 1925 Moves to Mougins.
• 1930s Becomes a close friend of Gertrude Stein.
• After the Second World War Returns to Paris, where he resumes painting in an abstract manner and writing poetry.
• 1949 The Galerie René Drouin in Paris dedicates a major retrospective to him (March).
• 1953 Dies in Paris on 30 November.