With anticipation building, the Picasso Museum in Paris gears up for its highly-anticipated reopening, offering visitors an enriched presentation of the legendary artist’s oeuvre and a special dedication to Francoise Gilot, his esteemed former muse.
The revamped permanent collection will showcase a curated array of 400 Pablo Picasso artworks spanning the museum’s 22 rooms, offering visitors a renewed glimpse into the genius of the Spanish maestro.
Culled from a vast archive of over 200,000 items, the collection includes a significant portion of the 2,000 paintings and over 11,000 drawings created by Pablo Picasso throughout his lifetime.
From the emotionally charged Blue and Pink periods to the revolutionary Cubist movement, the whimsical world of Surrealism, innovative collage experiments, and explorations in ceramics, the collection offers a comprehensive journey through Pablo Picasso’s diverse artistic expressions.
The museum proudly asserts its unique position as the sole institution capable of tracing Pablo Picasso’s artistic evolution from its inception to his passing in 1973, offering an unparalleled insight into the entirety of the maestro’s transformative journey.
A section called “Laboratory” highlights Picasso’s countless sculptures – made from cardboard, metal, wood, cigar boxes and whatever else came to hand – together with related drawings and paintings.
Another focuses on his work during World War II and the Nazi occupation of Paris, including the sculpture “Man with a Sheep”, which became a symbol of resistance.
One room has been entirely dedicated to Gilot, who died in June 2023 at the age of 101.
She lived with Picasso for a decade up to 1953 and had two children with him.
Gilot is seen as the one long-term partner who managed to stand up to his often tyrannical behaviour toward women, establishing herself as an artist in her own right.
Her works are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA in New York.
It was Gilot’s 1965 book, “Living with Picasso”, that first introduced the public to the more unhinged and selfish sides of the great painter’s character.
But she recalled their relationship without rancour in an interview with AFP in 2016, continuing to praise his “remarkable intelligence” and sense of humour.
With many of Picasso’s works travelling around the world for the 50th anniversary of his death in 2023, the rehanging is billed as “his return home” said Cecile Debray, the museum’s director.
It contrasts his work with artists who influenced him, including Henri Matisse and Paul Cezanne, as well as many anonymous sculptures from Africa and Oceania that ended up in his collection.
A research centre will be inaugurated near the museum in the autumn.
Africa Today News, New York, reports that Pablo Picasso, born in 1881 and passing away in 1973, was a Spanish artist renowned as one of the most significant figures in 20th-century art, known for his revolutionary contributions in painting and sculpture.
Pablo Picasso’s involvement in co-founding the Cubist movement and his instrumental contribution to the evolution of modern art are widely recognized.
Throughout his extensive and prolific career, Picasso showcased a remarkable ability to explore and innovate, evident in the diverse range of styles and periods his work encompassed.
Among Picasso’s celebrated creations are “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and “Guernica,” a poignant depiction of the Spanish Civil War’s horrors, alongside a diverse portfolio spanning paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, and prints.
Picasso’s monumental impact on the art world reverberates to this day, his innovative spirit and visionary approach serving as an enduring source of inspiration for artists across generations.