The perceptual and psychological games of cubism and trompe l'oeil at the Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art  

20.10.2022 – 22.01.2023  

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opens the exhibition Cubism and the Trompe l'Oeil Tradition, on view from October 20 of this year through January 22, 2023, as part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023. 

Easel painting, a self-referential art concerned with the nature of representation, tricks the viewer with perceptual and psychological games that complicate definitions of truth and fiction. This exhibition demonstrates that innovations often considered unique to Cubism, such as the shallow picture plane and references to new print media and advertising, are in fact typical of this ancient tradition.  

The Cubists Georges Braque, Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso at once parodied classical trompe l'oeil procedures and invented new ways of confusing the viewer. Alongside their still lifes, the exhibition presents classic examples of trompe l'oeil painting from Europe and the United States, as well as trompe l'oeil wallpapers incorporated into Cubist collages. 

The exhibition is part of the project called Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, a program of more than fifty exhibitions and events, which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death and will take place between 2022 and throughout 2023 at venues of renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States.