2016 has been an especially important year for the Museum, a year that raises our expectations that 2017 will be even better. These are the most important milestones achieved during the year we have just left behind us:
In terms of affluence, the Picasso museum received a total of 954,895 visitors and with 50% of these acquiring the admission ticket in advance through our website. As such, 2016 became the year of consolidation of this system of ticket sales which was introduced two years ago and which we will be improving this January by incorporating the possibility of doing online bookings of the free admission tickets for the first Sunday of the month and for Sunday afternoons (from 3.00pm onwards). A much awaited modification for many users as it will also allow the congestion in Montcada Street to be reduced also during the weekends.
Chart that allows you to see the occupation of the museum in real time during the day
In terms of the exhibitions, it is worth highlighting “Cubism and War. The crystal in the flame” that can still be visited until January 29th. More than 72,000 visitors have been able to enjoy the selection of works of Picasso, Maria Blanchard, Juan Gris and Diego Rivera, amongst others, curated by Christopher Green. The exhibition shows how Cubism survived and evolved in Paris during the time of the First World War. Inaugurated on October 21st, the exhibition contributed in a decisive way to the increase of more than 4,620 local visitors during the last quarter of the year compared with 2015, an increase which demonstrates the success of this exhibition also among the public of Barcelona.
Exhibition “Cubism and War. The crystal in the flame”
Furthermore, the Museu Picasso has hosted 5 small format exhibitions that highlighted the value of the research tasks being carried out by the organisation and which present new interpretations about the works of our permanent collection. Exhibitions such as “Latest donations and acquisitions” and “Jacqueline” provided us with a closer and more intimate look at the figure of Picasso while “The 156 engravings”, “Mythologies” and “Picasso, Photography and Ceramics” focused on specific aspects of the vast artistic production of the genius from Malaga.
As in previous years, in 2016 the Museum has also focused on Barcelona and its citizens with a complete programme of activities aimed at audiences of all ages. Among these, it is worth highlighting Zoom: The collection under analysis, an activity that we started up last January, and that, thanks to it being well received, this year we will be doing it once again from Thursday February 2nd onwards. This is an innovative monthly activity the aim of which being to provide a new vision of emblematic works of our collection. First of all, there is a theoretical part given by historians and experts so as to contextualize the work chosen, and, afterwards, there will be a second practical part, in which we invite the participants to carry out a creative exercise given by an artist inspired by the work in question.
Zoom. The collection under analysis, 2016
It is also worth highlighting the success of the Big Draw Barcelona, that on 30th October, held its seventh edition and which brought together more than 16,000 people in the 20 free-of-charge workshops spread around the neighbourhoods of the Born and la Ribera. This important participation consolidates the model that this year already has its date confirmed for its 8th edition: Sunday 22nd October. Furthermore, throughout 2016, the Museum attended more than 20,000 students from Primary school level to university cycles, apart from continuing with work on social inclusion through initiatives such as the active participation in the programme Apropa Cultura, the organistaion of guided visits for people suffering from visual and hearing disabilities or the workshop for young patients from the Hospital Sant Joan de Dé
Big Draw. La Festa del dibuix 2016
The fostering of knowledge is another of the main functions of the Museu Picasso and, in this sense, in 2016 we organised the 3rd Master Lecture Jaume Sabartés with the presence of Christopher Green. He offered us his vision about «Picasso and his friends: cubism as realism, 1914-1918», an advance of the star exhibition of 2016 curated by him. Moreover, we have also published online the first of the master lectures given by Elizabeth Cowling and the second Journals on the Collection dedicated to the restoration of “The artist’s mother”. The publication aims to make the works of our collection and the tasks that we carry out in the centre more accessible. A goal that in 2017 we would like to boost further so as to establish the Museu Picasso as a centre of international reference in terms of the diffusion and research of Pablo Picasso. As such, from 27th to 30th April we will be organizing the 3rd International Congress of Picasso, which will gather together experts from all over the world in Barcelona to debate and reflect on the concept of “Picasso and identity” . Precisely this concept is one of the starting points of the notable exhibition of 2017: “Picasso. Portraits”, a joint production with the National Portrait Gallery of London that we will opening on March 17th and that will bring more than 70 works of Picasso to Barcelona which will highlight the extent of his work and the diversity of styles and techniques applied to portrait.
3rd Master Lecture Jaume Sabartés with the presence of Christopher Green
Journals on the Collection dedicated to the restoration of “The artist’s mother”
3rd International Congress
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