Tracing Picasso’s art journey through his drawings and etchings
Pablo Picasso’s impressive artworks have landed in Rome and will be on display at the Galleria Nazionale until 5th November 2023. More than 300 works will guide the gallery’s visitors into the Spanish artist’s universe, made of thin drawings, geometries, still life objects and hundreds of female figures.
The exhibition, curated by Fernando Castro Flórez, gathers an impressive collection from the Museo Casa Natale Picasso di Malaga and it represents one of the many international initiatives organized to honour the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death or the “Año Picasso”. The show is also an opportunity to reflect on Picasso’s legacy in Rome. Many Roman residents will remember that another important show by Picasso took place in the eternal city, in 1953, right at the Galleria Nazionale. This time visitors will have the unique chance to take a look at the official correspondence, photos, press releases, newspapers announcing the exhibition at the time. Although the historical context in which that exhibition took place is very different from today’s, perhaps Picasso’s obsessive and at the same time metamorphic gaze allows us to modulate our desires and to understand what we need, stated the curator.
Picasso was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant graphic artists in the history of art. His impressive artistic career included a series of etchings in which he captured his obsessions: portraits of women, the passionate meeting between the painter and the model, and the history of painting itself
Curator, Fernando Castro Flórez
The gallery presents drawings dating between 1905 and 1972 and it offers a comprehensive review of Picasso’s imaginary, allowing visitors to rediscover the ideas and the preparation behind Picasso’s most famous oil paintings.
Among the most dated etchings we find works such as Salome or The danza barbara, executed in drypoint in 1905 in Paris. A group of 29 etchings belongs to the illustrations of Metamorphose by Ovid (1930-31), while in the illustration work for The unknown masterpiece by Balzac, with 8 etchings (1927-31) the main theme is the artist and his own work. Of considerable interest are the two etchings entitled Sueño y mentira de Franco, which trace the drama of the Spanish Civil War.
More frequently than anything else, depictions of women are at the centre of Picasso’s production – it is evident when walking through the gallery. Picasso suggests countless variations of the same woman, such as the portrait of Francoise Gilot, the Dos mujeres desnudas (1945) and the representation of Jaqueline Roque (1958).
A restless and curious spirit, with his omnivorous and inclusive gaze, Picasso not only invented and reinvented languages but he also found himself in such an exemplary way that he remained identical, however recognizable in the experimentations and interpretations of his own style
Director Cristiana Collu
Until 5 November 2023
GALLERIA NAZIONALE D’ARTE MODERNA E CONTEMPORANEA
Address:
Viale delle Belle Arti, 131
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday, 9am – 7pm
Tickets:
Regular € 10; reduced: €7,00 | € 5,00 | € 2,00
