Pablo Picasso
The Spanish painter who co-invented Cubism, reinvented his style every few years, and became the 20th century's default name for 'artist.'
Origin
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was a Málaga-born prodigy who moved to Paris at nineteen and never went back. The Blue and Rose Periods came first; in 1907 his Les Demoiselles d'Avignon broke perspective and started Cubism with Georges Braque. Guernica (1937) — his black-and-white response to the Nazi bombing of the Basque town — is the 20th century's defining political painting. He produced roughly 50,000 works across painting, sculpture, ceramics, and prints, ran through famous lovers and wives at an unedifying pace, and remained productive into his nineties.
Modern usage
'A Picasso' is generic shorthand for any modern painting (often used in 'looks like a Picasso' for any face that's been hit hard, or any drawing where the proportions are off). 'Very Picasso' as an adjective means deliberately broken, reassembled, jagged. Guernica is the universal anti-war painting reference. He's also the textbook case for the question of separating the work from the man's treatment of women.
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