In an interview published in 1957 in the magazine Gazeta Ilustrada, Picasso spoke enthusiastically about his Seseña cape. The journalist J. Ramírez de Lucas described it as "a beautiful Spanish cape of black cloth, embroidered in the same colour." When Picasso showed him the cape, he proudly pointed to the label around its neck, which read "Seseña, Calle de la Cruz, Madrid", the journalist recalls in his article.
Picasso came to own not one but two Seseña capes, which were given to him at different times by people close to him. The first was given to him by the bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín in 1955. It was an embroidered cape from Seseña, which at that time was very closely linked to the world of bullfighting. There are several photographs of the artist posing with the garment in question, but if there is one that stands out above the rest, it is the one taken by the prestigious American photographer Irving Penn (photograph below).
Fotografía Irving Penn, 1957 @ Irving Penn; Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023
The second of these was given to him by his wife Jacqueline Roque, who commissioned it with the complicity of Eugenio Arias, and was taken to France thanks to Real Madrid, who were due to play a match in Nice.
When Picasso died in 1973, Eugenio Arias wrapped him in the same cloak, in which he was buried. Today, an exact replica of the Seseña cape can be seen in the last room of the Birthplace Museum.
Sources:
https://museocasanatalpicasso.malaga.eu/museo-casa-natal/
Montiel, S. (1957) ‘Picasso en su rincón’, Gazeta Ilustrada , 30 Noviembre.
https://www.museothyssen.org/coleccion/artistas/picasso-pablo/corrida-toros