A year in the life of Pablo Picasso explored in Paris exhibition

By: Jen Balboa - 7 years ago

“Nu couché” (Reclining Nude) by Pablo Picasso, April 4, 1932, Boisgeloup, oil on canvass, Paris, Musée National Picasso –Paris. Image: RMN-Grand Palais (musée national Picasso -Paris) via AFP Relaxnews

The French capital’s Picasso museum is holding the first exhibition of the eminent artist’s work created specifically in 1932. The show features masterworks such as “Le Rêve” (The Dream), as well as archive materials, and runs from Oct. 10, 2017 to Feb. 11, 2018, at Musée Picasso, Paris.

“Femme au fauteuil rouge” (Woman in a Red Armchair) by Pablo Picasso, 1932, Boisgeloup, oil on canvass, Paris, Musée National Picasso –Paris. Image: RMN-Grand Palais (musée national Picasso -Paris) via AFP Relaxnews

“The art we make is a way of holding our newspaper.” The artist’s famous statement is explored by Musée Picasso in Paris, in an exhibition running October 10, 2017, to February 11, 2018. “Picasso 1932, Année érotique” chronicles the work produced in a specific year in the artist’s life, from January 1 to December 31, 1932. This pivotal year saw Picasso paint a sequence of 25 paintings of unbridled eroticism, featuring hidden but identifiable images, from breasts and phalluses to pubis.

“La Lecture” (the Reading) by Pablo Picasso, January 2, 1932, Boisgeloup, oil on canvass, Paris, Musée National Picasso –Paris. Image: RMN-Grand Palais (musée national Picasso -Paris) via AFP Relaxnews

Key works in the series include “Le Rêve” (the Dream), painted Jan. 24 that year, a portrait of the artist’s mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who is represented simultaneously face-on and in profile, with the upper part of the face evoking a penis.

“Le Rêve”(private collection) (The Dream) by Pablo Picasso, 1932, oil on canvass, private collection of Steven Cohen. Image: Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Images via AFP Relaxnews

The year 1932 was also the period that saw the “museumification” of Picasso’s work, with retrospectives at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris and at Kunsthaus in Zurich, as well as the publication of the first volume of Christian Zervos’ “catalogue raisonné” of Pablo Picasso’s work.

“Femme au jardin” (Woman in the Garden) by Pablo Picasso, 1929, Iron (metal), painted and welded, Paris, Musée National Picasso-Paris. Image: RMN-Grand Palais (musée national Picasso-Paris)/ Adrien Didierjean/Mathieu Rabeau via AFP Relaxnews

In total, more than 110 paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures feature in the show. Works are presented chronologically.

The event is organized in partnership with Tate Modern in London.

“Picasso 1932, Année érotique” runs Oct. 10, 2017, to Feb. 11, 2018, at Musée Picasso in Paris. JB