As part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, the French Government today held an institutional event at the Musée National Picasso-Paris. Accompanied by the Spanish Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, and the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, visited the exhibition Celebration Picasso The Collection Takes Colour! The tour of the exhibition was led by the artistic director, Paul Smith, and the director of the museum and French commissioner of the celebration, Cécile Debray, curator of this proposal together with Joanne Snrech. The event was also attended by the commissioner for Picasso Year in Spain, Carlos Alberdi.
The British designer is the artistic director of this 'rearrangement' of the permanent collection with a colourful and contemporary scenography. Smith has given a visual context to the works in the Parisian museum's collection through a spectacular and highly creative presentation, highlighting Pablo Picasso's unparalleled creativity and presenting his masterpiece through an innovative gaze. It also combines the museum's masterpieces with works by modern and contemporary artists such as Guillermo Kuitca, Obi Okigbo, Mickalene Thomas and Chéri Samba.
EXHIBITIONS IN FRANCE
France is hosting more than 10 exhibitions to honour the artist as part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023. These include Fernande Olivier and Pablo Picasso, in the intimacy of the Bateau-Lavoir at the Musée de Montmartre; Picasso/Poussin/Bacanales at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon; Picasso and prehistory at the Musée de l'Homme-Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle; Sophie Calle. It Depends on You, Precious from the Musée National Picasso-Paris; or Goya in Picasso's Gaze from the Musée Goya. Musée d'Art Hispanique de Castres. The latest to open on 6 May was Forms and Metamorphoses: Picasso's ceramic creation in Vallauris (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France), which explores the artist's links with this pottery-making town between 1946 and 1971.