Francis Picabia (French, January 22, 1879–November 30, 1953) was a poet, painter, and typographist. He had a part in both the Dada movement and the Surrealist movement. Picabia was independently wealthy, and, in the late 1890s, he studied under artists such as
Fernand Cormon (French, 1845–1924) and attended the École des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Picabia found unique ways to use his talent, such as replacing his father's original Spanish paintings with copies he created so that he could sell the originals and pay for a stamp collection he held. In 1909, Picabia married Gabrielle Buffet.
The artist became a member of the Puteaux Group in 1911 and developed a fast friendship with
Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887–1968). Picabia participated in the Armory Show in 1913, when
Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864–1946) of Gallery 291 gave him the chance to participate in a one-man exhibition of his art. He went on to travel to New York, NY, from 1913 to 1915. Picabia was the subject of an entire issue of the magazine
291. In 1916, while living in Barcelona, he created a periodical that was called
391. The Dada movement continued to be a major part of Picabia's life through 1919, when he was in Zürich and Paris. In 1921, he left the Dada movement behind for the Surrealist movement. This was also the year that he participated in a film titled
Entracte.
By 1925, Picabia started to paint Figurative pieces again, until he relocated to the south of France in 1940 and changed his style of painting completely. He began painting pieces that were reflective of nude glamour photos popular in the magazines during that era. By 1949, Picabia had returned to Paris, started to paint Abstract pieces again, and wrote poetry. That year, the Galerie René Drouin in Paris held a large exhibit showing his work. Picabia's death came in 1953 in Paris. His paintings have become some of the most expensive paintings in the world, selling for more than a million dollars in some cases.