ExhibitionApril 23, 2021
Picasso Ibero
From May 1 to September 12, 2021, Centro Botín will present the exhibition PICASSO IBERO, the first exhibition of its kind to explore the influence of Iberian art on the work of Pablo Picasso through more than 200 works.
The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Musée National Picasso-Paris and curated by Cécile Godefroy and Roberto Ontañón Peredo as associate curator, with Pierre Rouillard coordinating the Iberian section, is an original confrontation on how the discovery of an indigenous and "primitive" art contributed to the formation of the identity and artistic language of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) discovered Iberian art in 1906, in the Oriental antiquities room of the Louvre, through some sculptures such as those of the Cerro de Los Santos (Albacete) or the "Dama de Elche." In the following months, this discovery led him to produce several works -preparatory drawings, sculptures, and paintings- directly inspired by the monumental statuary in stone and small bronze votive offerings. All this represented a turning point in his formal research from a more classical work to what cubism represented in his oeuvre.
PICASSO IBERO offers the visitor, through one hundred works, a complete panorama of the artist's work from his proto-Cubist period to his last years. While examining the dialogue between the "Iberian" period, from which the exhibition follows the developments that led Picasso from the pink period to a selection of works from 1908 to the works that influenced him- formally or conceptually - the great themes, characteristics, and practices of Iberian art. The latter being those that lead towards his last years of creation and include an immense variety of techniques and artistic gestures.
The first time that such a large number of archaeological artifacts have been brought together in an exhibition to discover the diversity of Iberian art through large-format stone sculptures, bronze cultural objects, and painted ceramics. The presentation of these works is related to Picasso, illustrating the many existing connections.
The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Musée National Picasso-Paris and curated by Cécile Godefroy and Roberto Ontañón Peredo as associate curator, with Pierre Rouillard coordinating the Iberian section, is an original confrontation on how the discovery of an indigenous and "primitive" art contributed to the formation of the identity and artistic language of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) discovered Iberian art in 1906, in the Oriental antiquities room of the Louvre, through some sculptures such as those of the Cerro de Los Santos (Albacete) or the "Dama de Elche." In the following months, this discovery led him to produce several works -preparatory drawings, sculptures, and paintings- directly inspired by the monumental statuary in stone and small bronze votive offerings. All this represented a turning point in his formal research from a more classical work to what cubism represented in his oeuvre.
PICASSO IBERO offers the visitor, through one hundred works, a complete panorama of the artist's work from his proto-Cubist period to his last years. While examining the dialogue between the "Iberian" period, from which the exhibition follows the developments that led Picasso from the pink period to a selection of works from 1908 to the works that influenced him- formally or conceptually - the great themes, characteristics, and practices of Iberian art. The latter being those that lead towards his last years of creation and include an immense variety of techniques and artistic gestures.
The first time that such a large number of archaeological artifacts have been brought together in an exhibition to discover the diversity of Iberian art through large-format stone sculptures, bronze cultural objects, and painted ceramics. The presentation of these works is related to Picasso, illustrating the many existing connections.
