Regalo de Gary Davis. The Museum of Modern Art.
The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, an initiative promoted by the governments of Spain and France that pays tribute to the artist on the 50th anniversary of his death, has already registered more than 3 million visitors in the 46 national and international exhibitions that have taken place.
MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION VISITORS IN SPAIN ALONE
The Government of Spain, in collaboration with the Government of France, has marked 2023 as the Year of Picasso through a joint initiative: the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023. This program represents the first international collaborative tribute highlighting the life and work of Picasso, with more than fifty exhibitions and activities that have taken place in renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States.
The program, whose official opening took place in September 2022 with a ceremony presided over by the King and Queen of Spain at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, kicked off in June 2022 with 'Picasso - El Greco' at the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Since then, 17 exhibitions have opened in Spain and 49 parallel activities have attracted more than 1.5 million visitors.
Throughout the commemoration, lesser-known aspects of Picasso's work have been explored, such as his facet as a sculptor with projects at the MAPFRE Foundation and his work with Julio Gonzalez or that of the Picasso Museum in Malaga. This last exhibition, 'Picasso sculptor: matter and body', has found its continuity in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, where it will remain open until January 2024. His production in ceramics has also been the subject of exhibitions: in Spain, the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona devoted special attention to contrast his legacy to the city of 1957 with the historical pieces that inspired the artist.
His birthplace in Malaga and the Museo de Belas de Artes in A Coruña, the cities of his childhood and early adolescence, have had an impact on his artistic formation and evolution. Other projects have delved into Picasso's personal and professional relationships that influenced his work. This was the framework of the exhibition at the Museu Picasso Barcelona that focused on the figure of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, one of the most important art dealers of the 20th century and a fundamental figure in the artistic evolution of Pablo Picasso.
The Joan Miró Foundation and the Museu Picasso in Barcelona are exhibiting until the end of February the points of convergence between the Malaga-born artist and the Majorcan artist Joan Miró. The artistic collaboration with Chanel was already addressed in October 2022 at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, which now presents with 'Picasso, the sacred and the profane' an expressive dialogue that contrasts Picasso's production with the great masters present in the collection. In the same vein, the Museo Nacional del Prado delved into the influence of El Greco on Picasso's analytical cubism.
Until January and March, respectively, you can see the response to Picasso by young artists at La Casa Encendida with 'Picasso: untitled' and by mid-career artists in 'El eco de Picasso' at the Picasso Museum in Malaga.
In addition to these exhibitions, museums and institutions in Spain have also organized multiple and varied activities, from theater and music cycles to shows, forums, reflection days and conferences that have tried to delve a little deeper into the figure of the artist.
Among them, the film series 'Misterio Picasso' (1973-2023) organized by the Filmoteca Española and the Instituto Universitario del Cine Español Carlos III at the Cine Doré; the 'Congreso Internacional Picasso desde los estudios culturales. Dream and Lie of Spain (1898-1922)', organized by the Reina Sofia Museum in December, which have continuity in the lecture series that runs until February 7. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts of A Coruña have deepened in their cycles of conferences on aspects developed by their exhibitions. In A Coruña, in addition, different cycles have been carried out such as 'Picasso through cinema' and 'Picasso and his cities'; while the Museu Picasso Barcelona has invited the public to get to know Picasso's poetry, the most unknown side of the artist, whose translation into Spanish, by Akal, has been supported through the National Commission.
INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM
The tribute to Picasso goes beyond Spain's borders. Over the course of this year's Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, the public has had the opportunity to delve deeper into the artist's career in 29 other exhibitions in Europe and the United States, which have captivated nearly 1.5 million visitors.
The Musée National Picasso-Paris, the main lender of Picasso's works to participating institutions and coordinator of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 outside Spain, presented a selection of masterpieces from its collection to which, with the collaboration of designer Paul Smith, it has given a visual context through a spectacular and highly creative presentation. In its second exhibition, the museum explored Picasso's work through the eyes of artist Sophie Calle.
In Germany, the Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster has dedicated an extensive exhibition to Fernande Olivier and Françoise Gilot, the only two women in Picasso's life who left written records of their experiences with the artist. The Musée de Montmartre in Paris has reflected on Picasso's significant relationship with Fernande Olivier, model, artist.
Other institutions have addressed various themes such as Poussin's influence on Picasso's work, at the Musée de Beaux-Arts in Lyon; Goya's, at the Musée Goya in Castres; or with El Greco at the Kunstmuseum Basel, in Basel.
The Musée Magnelli, Musée de la Céramique-Vallauris, has delved into the period when the artist lived in the south of France and began experimenting with ceramics. In Antibes, the Musée Picasso has exhibited some of his last paintings painted between 1969-1972; and the Musée de l'Homme-Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris has shown how prehistoric art influenced Picasso's work. For its part, the Palais Princier in Monaco has provided an insight into the heritage of the classical world throughout Picasso's artistic career, from his early Italian travels to his Mediterranean sojourns, which could be contextualized in the exhibition at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli that recounts Picasso's trip to Italy in 1917 and his fascination with the excavations of Pompeii, which had a significant impact on the emergence of naturalism in his work.
The exhibition at the Centre Pompidou allows an extensive tour of Picasso's career, through nearly 800 drawings, from his initial studies to sketches and final works.
The United States has registered the largest number of exhibitions in this Celebration, behind only Spain and France. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has traveled to Picasso's beginnings during his stay in Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art has delved into the Cubist language and in a second exhibition has shown the studies on the unfinished decoration of the Hamilton Easter Field residence, in Brooklyn.
MoMA has analyzed the works Picasso created between July and September 1921, when he resided in Fontainebleau, France; while the Hispanic Society Museum & Library has focused on Picasso's interest in Spanish literature; and the Gagosian Gallery has hosted the itinerant project of the Palais de la Porte Dorée-Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, Paris on his condition as an immigrant.
The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 has also approached the figure of Picasso from a feminist perspective at the Brookyn Museum in New York; while The Mint Museum, in North Carolina, and The Cincinnati Art Museum, in Ohio, have revealed one of Picasso's least explored facets, his landscapes. The Art Institute of Chicago has shed light on the stories of those who supported the artist throughout his life.
The Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal and the Sprengel Museum in Hannover have exhibited a joint show to contrast the work of two key figures of the avant-garde, Pablo Picasso and Max Beckmann. The Bode Museum has highlighted the influence of Spanish art on Picasso's work, with works from the Berggruen Museum.
The Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Belgium offered a dialogue between Picasso's work and the history of abstract art. The Museum of Recent Art of Bucharest (MARe), in Romania, reflected on Picasso's artistic evolution and his influence on contemporary Romanian creation, while in Switzerland, the Fondation Beyeler presented a selection of the latest paintings and sculptures created by Picasso in the last decade of his career. Finally, the Musée du Luxembourg has highlighted the deep friendship and intellectual relationship that united Gertrude Stein and Picasso in their invention of a new language.
THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES
The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, organized to pay tribute to Pablo Picasso on the 50th anniversary of his death, which took place on April 8, 1973, began in June last year in Basel and has succeeded in these eighteen months in reflecting the enduring appeal of the figure of Picasso, an international reference and a symbol of creativity.
The commemoration program is at its peak, with seven major projects currently open to the public: 'Picasso. Untitled' at La Casa Encendida, in Madrid, until early January 2024; 'Picasso sculptor. Matter and Body' at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and 'Picasso. The Sacred and the Profane' at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, in Madrid, which will remain open until January 2024. 'Miró-Picasso', a joint action of the Museu Picasso Barcelona and the Fundació Joan Miró, is open until February 2024, along with other exhibitions such as 'Picasso en la retina'. 'Portraits of Catalan artists' at the Fundació Palau, in Caldes d'Estrac, and 'Diego Velázquez invites Pablo Picasso... Carmen Calvo, at Casa de Velázquez', in Madrid. 'The echo of Picasso', organized by the Museo Picasso Málaga and 'Picasso 1906: the great transformation' at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, can be visited until March 2024.
The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 is organized by the Spanish National Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso and the Musée National Picasso-Paris, with the support in Spain of Telefónica. The governments of France and Spain agreed to work together on a program of international scope through this Commission, which brings together the cultural and diplomatic administrations of the two countries, and coordinates the joint actions of the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of France and Spain.