I used to hold a similar position to you until I actually saw these paintings close up at a Picasso exhibition. In real life there's a presence about them that one doesn't get from reproductions. That said, I've definite preferences - some paintings from his rose and cubist periods such as Demoiselles d'Avignon and Ma Jolie and his Weeping Woman that was painted a little after Guernica are some of my favorites. I have a much less favorable impression of many of his later works.
It's moot whether Picasso's paintings would stand up solidly in isolation as you suggest but on balance I reckon a significant percentage of them would.
How would I rate Picasso in the great order of things? In my opinion he ranks pretty high but I'd never rate him amongst the pinnacles of Western European Art such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer - and even Michelangelo. I think by any measure these artists would stand high in any era.
Whilst the masses mill around da Vinci's Mona Lisa you'd find me in another wing of the Louvre staring transfixed at wonderful paintings such as Caravaggio's The Fortune Teller. For me, works by these artists represent the epitome of art - but then that's just my opinion (but I know that I'm far from being alone in thinking this way).
I recall decades ago on my first visit to Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and not knowing what to expect, I walked into an alcove in which only one painting had pride of place and that was a Rembrandt self portrait.
I was completely transfixed as this old man stared directly into my eyes from across four centuries past. There was a strange realism about the experience, it was as if he were actually standing there beside me. I was alone in the alcove and only several feet away from the painting (just being that close alone, I consider a remarkable privilege). This experience is one of the most memorable of my life. (Picasso's paintings have never impacted me to that degree.)
Around several corners and not far away were some Vermeers including The Milkmaid. Even now, my brain is overloaded just thinking about the experience.
It's moot whether Picasso's paintings would stand up solidly in isolation as you suggest but on balance I reckon a significant percentage of them would.
How would I rate Picasso in the great order of things? In my opinion he ranks pretty high but I'd never rate him amongst the pinnacles of Western European Art such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer - and even Michelangelo. I think by any measure these artists would stand high in any era.
Whilst the masses mill around da Vinci's Mona Lisa you'd find me in another wing of the Louvre staring transfixed at wonderful paintings such as Caravaggio's The Fortune Teller. For me, works by these artists represent the epitome of art - but then that's just my opinion (but I know that I'm far from being alone in thinking this way).
I recall decades ago on my first visit to Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and not knowing what to expect, I walked into an alcove in which only one painting had pride of place and that was a Rembrandt self portrait.
I was completely transfixed as this old man stared directly into my eyes from across four centuries past. There was a strange realism about the experience, it was as if he were actually standing there beside me. I was alone in the alcove and only several feet away from the painting (just being that close alone, I consider a remarkable privilege). This experience is one of the most memorable of my life. (Picasso's paintings have never impacted me to that degree.)
Around several corners and not far away were some Vermeers including The Milkmaid. Even now, my brain is overloaded just thinking about the experience.