14th May 2012

Talking about Picasso’s Guernica at Montjuïc

The Generalitat de Catalunya’s Memorial Democràtic initiative has organized a series of activities, exhibitions and talks to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Civil War bombing of the civilian population.

Guernica. Pablo Picasso, 1937. Oil on canvas

Although aerial bombardment had been used in previous wars, the Spanish Civil War was the first in which the civilian population was subjected to intensive and continuous attack from the air. First in Euskadi — the Basque Country — and then all over the country, the rebel General Franco’s army and its Italian and German allies systematically bombed defenceless towns and cities behind the lines. This aberrant tactic continued during World War II and culminated in the dropping of the atomic bomb, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then the bombing of the civilian population has been a common practice in almost all wars. Read more »

31st January 2012

Farewell to Pepe Serra: assessment of a phase

When our director Pepe Serra said goodbye to the team at the Museu Picasso he told us: ‘We have done ten years’ work in five years.’ What follows is a brief summary of some of the projects carried out during his time as director.

· Research and development of exhibitions that contribute knowledge and added value.

“Feasting on Paris. Picasso 1900-1907” (2011). Self-Portrait with Palette, Picasso, Paris, 1906 |  “Picasso Looks at Degas” (2010). Read more »

5th January 2012

With two eyes, a nose and a mouth

‘Overcoming the fear of drawing’, ‘teaching us to see in different ways’, ‘correcting and correcting to make it better’, ‘a lot of ideas and plenty of resources’, ‘a framework of contextualized art references’, ‘I had a wonderful time’: these are some of the responses we were given by the teachers at the Pere Vila primary school when we talked over the joint training sessions with the Education Service at the Museu Picasso.

Pere Vila primary school. Photo: Kisa

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30th December 2011

The Museu Picasso’s 2011 in images

The task of choosing the most representative images of this year that is coming to an end was far from easy. Between us, we have worked on a lot of projects! Exhibitions, activities, research and restoration, education, registrar, library, publications, communications, administration, visitor services… it’s a long list. Here, then, is just a taste of what the museum has done in 2011.

Read more »

23rd December 2011

My experience in California after the Museum Management postgrad

After completing the Postgraduate course in Museum Management: how to make a museum work, run by the Museu Picasso and IDEC-UPF, I did my postgraduate practice in the Museu Picasso. During the four months I was there my work focused on studying the museum in its environment, in relation to the surrounding neighbourhoods, in the context of Ciutat Vella as a district with a lot of history, which conditions its cultural present. This search for information reflected the museum’s commitment to developing a strategy that embraces policies of proximity and the importance of working with the local community around it.

Yerba Buena Family Day:  Children’s Creativity Museum, MOAD Read more »

17th November 2011

Unsolved Mysteries at the Museu Picasso

This weekend we launched the second season of ‘The Mysterious Case of the missing Picasso’, a family treasure hunt through the galleries with plenty of intrigue.

Mateu begins his investigations (Joan Forns, from Cia. La Paparra). Photo: Jordi Mota Read more »

26th September 2011

Virtual learning about the cultural heritage: the findings of research at the UOC

How are social and technological changes affecting learning? What can our museums and heritage centres do to provide or co-produce inspiring and meaningful online educational resources for different publics? Janine Sprünker has dealt with all of this and more in her thesis, which we have asked her to summarize so as to share it with you in our blog. The thesis has been distinguished with a well-deserved summa cum laude. Congratulations, Janine, and thanks for condensing several years of research and hundreds of pages for us here!

On July 1, I defended the thesis entitled ‘Heritage Education Using Online Educational Resources with Cultural Content and Learning Networks’ before the UOC open university. Before attempting to summarize the thesis I would like to thank the Museu Picasso and Conxa Rodà for inviting me to write this post and giving me the opportunity to share with you some of the conclusions and one of the research questions that is challenging us again. Read more »

19th September 2011

Today’s museums seen by postgraduate students / 2

Here is the continuation of the selection of ideas put forward by students from the Postgraduate Course in Museum Management. As you can see, the new waves of museum people have plenty of critical force. Let’s listen carefully to what they have to say.

Intelligent interactive museography: not to trivialization

‘Currently, we can still find museums that belong in the nineteenth century, and others that have exaggerated the formula and become theme parks for family fun.’
Núria C. Read more »

7th September 2011

Today’s museums seen by postgraduate students / 1

What role should museums have today? What are they like? What should they be like? We asked the students on the Postgraduate Course in Museum Management to reflect on these questions when they were still in the first term. The result was a first-rate collection of ideas, criticisms, questions and suggestions. What we offer you here is a selection — hard to make, I can assure you! — grouped by sub-theme. As you will see, in some of their formulations they have really put into practice what we asked them to do in applying a critical eye. You will also see that there are conflicting opinions. That is the strength and the beauty of collective participation — a participation that we in the museums are still learning to encourage and integrate.

So as not breach any blogger laws about the length of articles, this post will be in two parts.

Read more »

27th July 2011

On the teacher training course at the Museu Picasso, the Education Department and the teachers learn together

During the week of 11th to 15th July, for the second year running, the Museu Picasso’s Education Department presented a training course for teachers on how to work with art as the basis for a transverse exploration of a whole range of subjects in the primary and secondary curricula.

The purpose of these courses is very practical and they reflect the dual need to get closer to teachers on their home terrain, the field they act and work in, while offering them tools and materials with which to incorporate the study of art in the broadest sense and, with particular reference to Picasso, to get rid of certain common misconceptions that do nothing enhance our understanding of the work. Read more »