“Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction.”

Francis Picabia grew up in a wealthy but emotionally cold environment, and he found his freedom early — in art, and in provocation. His career is difficult to summarize. He moved ruthlessly between Impressionism, Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism without ever settling into a single movement. Marcel Duchamp described it all as "a kaleidoscopic series of art experiences." Picabia himself is said to have remarked that if you want clean ideas, you should change them as often as you change your shirt. In late 1951, he was struck by a paralyzing arteriosclerosis and slowly lost his ability to paint. Two years later he died in the same house where he had been born, 74 years
earlier. He called his own death the total dissolution.