©Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023
Monday (except holidays) from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sundays and holidays from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Fundación MAPFRE
23.09.2022 - 08.01.2023
Julio González, Pablo Picasso and the dematerialization of sculpture is an exhibition that revisits one of the milestones of 20th century art: the collaboration between Julio González and Pablo Picasso between 1928 and 1932, when Picasso required the technical help of his friend Julio González to carry out the project of a funerary monument to Guillaume Apollinaire.
In 1928, Picasso lacked experience in working with iron, so he requested the help of his friend Gonzalez. The two then tackled the creation of a project of dematerialized sculpture, "a profound statue of nothingness, like poetry, like glory." This collaboration has traditionally been studied as the origin of a new type of sculpture, in iron, which dominated the art scene in the central decades of the 20th century.
This exhibition goes beyond that recognized consideration to delve into the general context in which the metal sculpture of the 1920s developed and to show, moreover, that the artistic affinities and common concerns of both creators were not limited to that brief period, but began in the modernist Barcelona of the early 20th century and continued during their years in Paris until González's death in 1942.
The exhibition is organized by Fundación MAPFRE, in collaboration with the Musée national Picasso-Paris, the Spanish National Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and the González Administration, and is part of the official program of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, with Telefónica as a collaborating company in Spain.
The exhibition is part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 project, a program of more than fifty exhibitions and events commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death that will take place between 2022 and throughout 2023 in renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States.