Picasso’s museum in the Spanish City of Barcelona will be holding an exhibition for the artist Pablo Picasso, from the 29th of November until the 19th of February, entitled “Picasso 1936.” Although the exhibition does not include actual artistic paintings made by Picasso, it exhibits the documents through interactive technologies, stressing the importance of the first exhibition organized by Picasso during 1936 in Spain (Barcelona, Bilbao, and Madrid). Here, Picasso exhibited a set of 25 paintings which he painted between 1907 and 1908, and between December 1935 and March 1936.
The opening of the exhibition in 1936 had included 3 halls at Picasso’s museum in Barcelona, containing 56 documents of photos and articles which were later published in the daily newspapers, magazines, and disks.
The main objective of this exhibition, considered the outcome of the research center of the Picasso Museum, is to highlight the intimate relationship between Picasso and his mother country. This is shown through his set of works and the archive collection of Picasso’s work provided by the Museum which opened its doors in 1963.
The Biography of Picasso
Pablo Roys Picasso, known as Pablo Picasso, was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. He had lived in France, and died there in 1973. He learned to paint under the supervision of his father who worked as a drawing teacher. Picasso’s talents began to appear early on, when he was only 7 years old. Thereafter, he enrolled in the Art Institute, then the Art Academy in Barcelona, and finally to France where he had settled.
The critics have divided the art of Picasso into many periods- the real period dating from 1895-1901, the blue period from 1901-1904, the rose period from 1905-1907, the African influenced period from 1908-1909, the analytic cubism period from 1909-1912, and the synthetic cubism period from 1912-1919. These exclude his work of engraving, sculpting, and pottery.
Pablo Picasso has been considered one of the most famous artists of the 20th century. Seeing as that he was a photographer, painter, artist, potter, designer, and decorator, Picasso is viewed as the most diverse and creative artist. He is characterized by his multiple talents, continuous activities, renewed vision, moody character, and production. Picasso’s artistic creations were estimated at about more than 20, 000 works spreading around the world in museums, banks, palaces, and in places subject to severe, confidential, and electronic guard.
Picasso’s Work
At the beginning of his work, Picasso was concerned with highlighting the social and real issues of the world, before being influenced by Paul Gauguin and Toulouse Lautrec in the clown paintings displayed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Thereafter, Picasso considered the “inspiration symbol” a reference source that characterized his blue period during which he accomplished a set of quasi-monochromatic paintings, inclusive of the “life” painting and “heaven” painting.
During his rose period beginning in 1906, Picasso was able to draw a number of emotional paintings (‘clown’, ‘knights’, ‘woman holding a rose’, and ‘acrobat’).
The ‘Naked Woman’ painting displayed at the Modern Art Museum in New York, and the lower level painting, ‘Woman of Avignon,’ are considered of the most famous works showing the primitive tendencies that impose the existence of Picasso’s creativities and which led him into his works on cubism. Afterwards, Picasso was cut off completely from academic and classic photography, and declared the birth of a new expressive style known as cubism, which lasted 6 years in modern art history.
Picasso was obliged to travel to Italy in 1917 due to the war. There, he met the poet and playwright Jean Cocteau, who influenced Picasso’s role in theater, dance, and ballet. In 1935, Picasso printed the ‘Minotaur’ painting which is now displayed at the Modern Art Museum in New York, and considered one of the most important sculpting works summarizing the best creative achievements of Picasso to this day.
The ‘Guernica’ painting is considered the only historical painting drawn in the 20th century, illustrating the German warplane bombings in the small village of Basque.
‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’ - The Most Expensive Painting in the World
‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’ is considered the most expensive painting in the world, painted by Pablo Picasso during 1932 in the French District, Normandy. The painting was sold in an auction to an anonymous customer in New York for $ 106.5 million and is a depiction of his mistress Marie Therese Walter, who died in 1977.
Businessman Donates 100 of Picasso’s Paintings
Last December, businessman Hamish Parker donated 100 of Pablo Picasso’s paintings that had never been displayed in public, for a value of $ 1.5 million. They were donated to the British Museum in honor and memory of his father, Horas Parker, who had died last year. The newer paintings created by Picasso were finished between 1930 and 1937, and are considered to be one of the most expensive artistic sets in the century.
The Picasso Museum in Barcelona
The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is considered a reference museum for those who seek to understand Picasso and his works, as it includes more than 3800 of his artistic pieces.
The most popular Museum in Spain was inaugurated in 1963, holding 574 artistic works made as a gift by Jamie Sabart, Picasso’s friend who had created the idea of a museum for Picasso. Later, Picasso gifted himself by adding 1000 artistic pieces and some of his personal belongings to the museum.
The exhibition will take place in Barcelona, Spain between November 29 and February 19, 2012, entitled “Picasso 1936”.
First Published in Men's Passion Issue #37 February 2012
