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 »

19th January 2012

The Pieces of a Jigsaw

I’ve always liked books with pictures. When I was little I spent a lot of afternoons on the sofa leafing through one of the few books with photographs that we had at home. Years later I worked as editor on a collection of history books, which were also illustrated, and I remember my boss at the time saying that the combinations of images should speak for themselves.

Provisional and final versions of a page of the second number of the Focus collection”Picasso 1936. Traces of an exhibition” Read more »

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.

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17th November 2011

Picasso in Tel Aviv

From 17 November 2011 to 20 January 2012 the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is hosting the Picasso exhibition “Tauromachy. Works from the Collection of the Museu Picasso Barcelona”. The initiative has come about as part of the cooperation agreement between the Museu Picasso and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), which chose to show Picasso for the first time in Israel, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two states.

Table of registers Read more »

7th November 2011

Among Van Goghs, Witches and Bicycles

I took advantage of the November holiday to do some sightseeing in the land of cheese, chocolate, bicycles, windmills and canals. No sooner had we arrived in the Netherlands than we headed for Bruges, in Belgium, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, and then on to Amsterdam, where as well as a lot of canals and bicycles there are also plenty of museums.

Buildings in Bruges. Photo: Pau Baños | A windmill in the heart of Amsterdam. Photo: Cristina Martín Read more »

20th October 2011

A Palazzo by the Arno for Picasso

The Palazzo Giulia Rosselmini Gualandi, a magnificent Renaissance mansion on the banks of the Arno, is home to the Fondazzione Palazzo Blu, and is hosting the exhibition “Ho voluto essere pittore e sono diventato Picasso” — I Wanted to Be a Painter and I Became Picasso. This is the first ever show of Picasso’s work in the city of Pisa and it runs from 14 October 2011 to 29 January 2012. The major retrospective brings together some two hundred works, including paintings, drawings, ceramics and etchings, and traces Picasso’s output from 1901 to 1970. The show has been organized and coordinated by the Giunti Arte Mostre e Musei cultural council, and was curated by Claudia Beltrami Ceppi.

Entrance to the exhibition with the Leaning Tower in the background Read more »

17th October 2011

The Reading Club is back, with Fernande Olivier in the spotlight

Last Thursday saw the start of the second season of the Museu Picasso Reading Club. Last year I cam along to the Club as an ordinary member, but this time round I was asked to lead the discussion about the memoir by Fernande Olivier, Recuerdos íntimos.

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13th October 2011

The Emotion of the Blot: the influence of Paris on Picasso

The exploration of new techniques in picture-making, which was a crucial concern for the artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, did not pass unnoticed by the young Pablo Picasso.

Arnau Puig front of the The Wait (Margot) Read more »

30th September 2011

On Iberian Heads and Self-portraits

As “Feasting on Paris. Picasso 1900-1907” comes to its last weeks, we have asked its curator, Marilyn McCully, to give us an insider’s view of a particularly significant artwork in the exhibition. If you woud like to know more about Ms. McCully’s thesis and the exhibition, take a look at the short interview with her in our Summer Capsules as well as the specific web site. And if you haven’t yet got round to visiting the exhibition, don’t miss this last opportunity to do so.

Self-Portrait with a Palette. Picasso.(Paris, 1906 Read more »

14th September 2011

Circus Figures Wreathed in Mystery

In the context of the exhibition Devouring Paris. Picasso 1900-1907, co-produced with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, we invited Edwin Becker, Head of Exhibitions at the Van Gogh, to tell us about his favourite work in the show and why he likes it. Becker also offered us his vision of the Paris that Picasso would have found at the beginning of the twentieth century, in a brief interview in our Summer Capsules.

“In an exhibition, I always try to show the importance of the present and establish relationships with it. Of course it is wonderful to admire the art treasures of the past, the features of a movement or images of an era, but it is much more interesting to relate artworks to present-day events, trends and themes, or even to other works of different periods or in other media. Read more »