The Adventures of Picasso (1978) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Picasso gets his distinctive bald look after his father Don Jose invents a shampoo in 1918 that claims to regrow hair. The product fails spectacularly, leaving Picasso completely bald. This absurd invention occurs after World War I ends when father and son reunite, and the film uses this comedic moment to explain Picasso's iconic appearance.

• bald
• shampoo
• Don Jose
• 1918

Cubism is born during a visit from Picasso's father Don Jose to Paris. While Picasso struggles to sell his paintings, his father arrives with the news that Dona Maria has died. During the visit, Don Jose starts eating an apple that Picasso used as a reference for his work. Picasso begins drawing faster, using the apple as reference, and this process of breaking down objects geometrically ushers in the birth of cubism.

• cubism
• apple
• Don Jose
• Paris
• art movement

On the road to Madrid, young Picasso and his father encounter robbers threatening a beautiful woman named Dolores. After Picasso defeats the robbers, Dolores rewards him with a bottle of paint containing a djinn. This magical paint allows Picasso to sign all his paintings, and the djinn later appears again when Picasso drinks the ink at the end of his life, symbolizing the magical nature of his artistic gift.

• magical paint
• djinn
• Dolores
• signature

During World War II, Don Jose absurdly joins the German army and is promoted to a theatrical SS position in charge of 'Operation Ostrich,' a satirical operation to hunt down opposition. The film treats this with typical farcical humor, Don Jose switches allegiances comically, later shedding his German uniform for a French one after the war ends and singing the blues about America.

• Don Jose
• German army
• WWII
• Operation Ostrich
• satire

During a surreal prohibition-era trial in New York where Picasso is convicted of art being a lethal poison, he is sentenced to the electric chair. The chair fails to execute him, and a Norwegian electrician named Grieg is called to fix it. The device misfires, and Picasso escapes by drawing a door on the wall and slipping through it back to Europe, a final absurdist trick that plays with his artistic power.

Foreshadowing: The film earlier shows Picasso using artistic improvisation to lower a painting from a window at the vernissage.

• electric chair
• escape
• New York
• Grieg
• trial

Mrs. X, to whom Picasso delivers paintings during Prohibition-era New York, is revealed to be Ingrid Svensson-Guggenheim in a different guise. She first appeared in Paris as a Swedish-American investor keen on acquiring Picasso's work. She returns in New York under the alias Mrs. X, continuing her pursuit of the artist's work and serving as a juror during his absurd trial.

• Mrs. X
• Ingrid Svensson-Guggenheim
• New York
• patron

Rousseau hosts a grand masquerade where guests arrive dressed as furniture and famous historical figures, a surreal, fairy-tale moment in the film. The festivities reach a peak when Rousseau plays the violin and then somehow leaps out the window into the Paris night, flying away as the music carries on. This sequence exemplifies the film's whimsical, absurdist approach.

• Rousseau
• masquerade
• furniture
• flying
• Paris

After Picasso settles on the Riviera with Dolores and her granddaughter, he drinks the ink from the magical bottle that Dolores gave him long ago. This causes him to die temporarily, and the signatures on his paintings vanish, triggering what the film calls the 'Great Picasso crash.' The art world loses confidence in works that can no longer be authenticated, representing a satirical take on the commodification of art.

Foreshadowing: The magical paint first appeared when Dolores gave it to young Picasso.

• Great Picasso crash
• signatures
• Riviera
• ink

Picasso does not actually die at the end. After collapsing from drinking the magical ink and being presumed dead, he rises again, bids farewell to his canvases, and fades into the wall, a final surreal trick. This ambiguous ending refuses a clear mythic conclusion, instead suggesting that Picasso the man dissolves into the legend and image he created, playing with the idea of the artist becoming art.

• death
• ending
• fade
• wall
• ambiguous

In Paris, Picasso becomes enchanted by Sirkka, a Finnish singer who captivates him with a single tune. However, when he investigates further, he discovers the 'song' is actually a recipe for kalakukko, a Finnish fish pie. The realization that the popularity rests on something so mundane makes Picasso restless and leads him to leave for New York.

• Sirkka
• Finnish singer
• recipe
• kalakukko
• New York

At the Paris vernissage, Picasso lowers his controversial painting from a window using a fishing line after the crowd reacts with shock and disbelief. The painting is initially mocked but catches the attention of Gertrude Stein, the great writer who recognizes something magnetic in the work. She purchases the painting, marking Picasso's entry into the serious Paris art world and validating his new artistic direction.

• Gertrude Stein
• vernissage
• Paris
• painting purchase