© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023.
As part of the programme of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, an initiative promoted by the Spanish and French governments to pay tribute to the Malaga-born artist on the 50th anniversary of his death, the exhibition "Picasso. The artist and the model: last works", an invitation to rediscover his conception of women in some of his last works.
The exhibition, which will remain open to the public until 1 May, consists of a selection of the last paintings and sculptures that the young Pablo Picasso created in the last decade of his career and are a testimony to the creative energy and productivity that he maintained until the end of his life.
In the exhibition, one can see how Picasso explores the artist's (self-)image and the creative act itself through the image of the body. Themes such as life, love, sexuality, destiny and death can be seen embodied in the young male and female figures, and in children and old people marked by life, whose range of emotions includes happiness and joy, but also loneliness and melancholy. And, under the gaze of today's viewer, the exhibition also poses an inevitable reflection on the representation of women.
The exhibition is part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 programme, with more than fifty exhibitions and events, which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death throughout 2023 in renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States.
PICASSO CELEBRATION 1973-2023
8 April 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, an event that will mark the celebration of his work and artistic legacy in France, Spain and internationally.
On this occasion, the governments of France and Spain have agreed to work together on a programme of international scope through a bi-national commission bringing together the cultural and diplomatic administrations of the two countries.
With the backing of renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States, the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 revolves around some fifty exhibitions and events which, taken together, address a historiographical analysis of Picasso's work.
Born in Malaga on 25 October 1881 and died in the French town of Mougins on 8 April 1973, Pablo Picasso is one of the most celebrated painters in the history of Western art. His expressive, free and multiform language continues to influence contemporary art and thought.
The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 aims to highlight the career of an essentially European artist who, from a profound knowledge of the heritage and principles of tradition and an understanding of classicism as an ethical value, projected internationally such universal symbols as Guernica, today a collective emblem in the defence of human rights.
The programme is organised 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 BEYELER FOUNDATION, BASEL, SWITZERLAND
The Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel is an international success story that has established itself as one of the most visited art museums in Switzerland. Since it opened its doors in 1997, it has welcomed more than 8 million visitors from all over the world. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, the multi-award-winning museum building, located in the idyllic grounds of Berower Park, is considered one of the most beautiful art spaces in the world. Its famed collection of modern and contemporary art has doubled in size since its inception by Ernst and Hildy Beyeler, through acquisitions as well as valuable donations and long-term loans from private collections and renowned artists.