Fernande Olivier, the muse of Pablo Picasso's Bateau-Lavoir

Montmartre Museum  

14.10.2022 - 19.02.2023 

The exhibition Fernande Olivier and Pablo Picasso, in the intimacy of the Bateau-Lavoir deals with the relationship of Fernande Olivier (1881-1966), who began her career as a professional model for many artists before becoming known as a companion of the young Picasso. From 1905 until their break-up in 1911, Fernande was crucial to the artist's inspiration - from the blue period to the Cubist revolution. As a writer, in Picasso and His Friends she will recount the Montmartre life of Picasso and his group of Catalan friends and the artistic bohemia of the Bateau-Lavoir at the beginning of the 20th century.  

This is the first exhibition devoted entirely to her that illustrates some of the key episodes and characters of the avant-garde through her writings: The customs officer Rousseau, Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, André Derain, but also Gertrude Stein, Marie Laurencin or Suzanne Valadon. The exhibition evokes their condition as women, artists or models, and their difficult emancipation at the beginning of the century. 

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