MÁLAGA, SPAIN.- A century after his death, the first retrospective exhibition of José Ruiz Blasco(1838-1913), father of Pablo Picasso, is taking place at the house where the art genius was born. The exhibition was organized by Fundación Picasso-Casa Natal and will be open until January 8.

Pablo Picasso stated to Brassaï in 1966: “Each time I draw a man I think of my father. For me the man is ‘don José’, and it will be like that all my life. He wore a beard. All the men I draw I portray them like my father.”

He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Málaga under professor Bernardo Ferrándiz and Antonio Muñoz Legrain. He got married at the age of 42 to a young woman of 25 María Picasso López (1855-1938). He rented an apartment in the plaza de la Merced, where Pablo was later born.