Francis Picabia — Profile, Rankings & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

Picabia painted in so many styles across fifty years that even calling him a painter feels too narrow — Cubist abstractions, Dada provocations, Surrealist flirtations, then a hard pivot away from all of it. He didn't evolve so much as refuse to settle.

Biography

About

Born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia in January 1879, he moved through Impressionism and Pointillism before landing on Cubism, where his abstract planar works stood out for their color and contrast. He became a major early figure in Dada on both sides of the Atlantic, publishing, writing, making films, and designing type alongside the paintings. In 1921 he denounced Dada outright. A brief Surrealist phase followed, then he turned his back on the art establishment entirely. He died in November 1953, having refused allegiance to any single movement long enough for it to define him.

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Francis Picabia

Francis Picabia

said23 Nov 1921

So Picabia has invented nothing, he just copies. But of course, Picabia copies an engineer's sketch instead of copying apples.

— in 'L'oeil cacodylate', Comoedia, 23 November 1921, p. 2

Francis Picabia

said1921

FRANCIS PICABIAis an imbecile, an idiot, a pickpocket!!!1921BUTHe saved Arp from constipation!

— Quote of Picabia in his 'Manifesto, 1921'; as cited in Manifesto: A Century of Isms, ed. Mary Ann Caws, Lincoln: University of Nebraska

Francis Picabia

said1920

The Cubists want to cover Dada with snow; that may surprise you, but it is so, they want to empty the snow from their pipe to bury DaDa. Are you sure?

— In 'DADA manifesto 1920'; as quoted in Manifesto: A Century of Isms, ed. Mary Ann Caws, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001, nr.

Francis Picabia

said1919