Francis Picabia

Francis Picabia (1879–1953) was a pivotal French avant-garde artist, writer, and filmmaker associated with the Dada movement. His career was marked by a “kaleidoscopic” series of style changes, from Impressionism and Cubism to Dada and Surrealism. Picabia was known for his abstract, machine-like images, and later, for his provocative text-based works and scandalous attacks on societal norms. He was a central figure in the Dada movement in both the United States and France, known for his playful and anarchic spirit.

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Picabia once dubbed "Papa Dada," shifted easily between abstraction and figuration, challenging conventions of modern art and encouraging innovations, from the layered Transparency series to the erotic nudes of the 1940s.

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