Picasso Black and White at the Guggenheim in New York

The Guggenheim Museum in New York will present until January 23, 2013 the exhibition entitled Picasso Black and White. This exhibit will showcase for the first time a series of works by the Spanish artist that resulted from his exploration of a monochromatic palette.

Picasso spent a long period of time experimenting with black and white images, as he drew from early forms of graphic art and primitive drawings created during the Paleolithic period.

Picasso also resumes the use of black as the leading color, just as other great masters like El Greco, José de Ribera, and Francisco de Goya, did before him. Likewise, Picasso created several monochromatic interpretations of master works like Desnudo Acostado (Sleeping Nude,1942), inspired by Goya's work; Las Damas de Honor (Las Meninas Después de Velázquez) (The Maids of Honor [Las Meninas, after Velázquez] (1957) by Velázquez; Mujer de Argel (Versión K) (Woman of Argel [Version K] (1955), by Delacroix; and El Rapto de las Sabinas (The Rape of the Sabines, 1962) by Poussin, among others.

The exhibition includes paintings, works on paper and sculptures. The rotonda floor contains Mujer con Florero (Woman with Vase), a bronze created in 1933, and Mujer con Brazos Extendidos (Woman with Outstretched Arms), a painted metal sculpture created in 1961.