Picasso’s painting Guernica arrived in Spain
from the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1981, to which it
had been temporarily entrusted by the artist himself. The return
of the painting fulfilled Picasso’s wish that this monumental
canvas - created as a commission from the Government of the Republic
for the Spanish Pavilion in the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1937
at the height of the Civil War – would eventually come home
to Spain once democratic rights had been restored in that country.
The return of the painting marked a before and after in the Spanish
political transition in a unique way. 25 years later, the Museo
del Prado, which initially received and housed the painting, and
the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which now
houses it, are joining forces to celebrate this unique anniversary.
The exhibition
Picasso. Tradition and Avant-garde, sponsored by Fundación Winterthur
and co-produced by the Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales (SECC),
will be a major retrospective of the work of the most important Spanish artist
of the 20th century. It comprises a survey of more than 100 masterpieces created
over the course Picasso’s long and active career, which will be shown
divided between the principal galleries of Spain’s two leading, national
museums. Every stage of Picasso’s career will be represented, allowing
for an overview of the most important phases within his oeuvre; from the Blue
and Pink periods, to Cubism, the return to order in the 1920s, his relations
with the Surrealist movement, the difficult years between the Spanish Civil
War and World War II, up to the fertile last decades. The exhibition is a complete
retrospective, which, due to the importance of the works included, can be considered
of equal importance to other such exhibitions on the artist organised over
the past few decades. On this occasion the exhibition brings together some
of Picasso’s most important paintings from museums and collections around
the world, whose generosity has meant that most will be seen in Spain for the
first time. Including works such as Three Musicians which has only travelled
to Europe twice, the last time almost forty years ago.
The exhibition starts in the Prado, whose Central Gallery will house a group
of masterpieces by the artist, flanked by a special selection of works by Spanish
Old Masters represented in its collections. Among the paintings that can be
seen in this unprecedented dialogue between Picasso and the past are La
Vie (1903) Cleveland Museum of Art; Boy with Horse (1906)
Museum of Modern Art, New York; Bread and Fruit Dish with Fruit on
a Table (1908-1909) and The Aficionado (1912) from
the Kunstmuseum, Basel; Self-portrait with Palette (1906),
and Three Musicians (1921) from the Philadelphia Museum of
Art; The Pan Pipes (1923) from the Musée Picasso, Paris; L’Aubade (1942),
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Las Meninas (1656), Museu
Picasso, Barcelona
In the Reina Sofía the exhibition takes on a monographic character focused
around the Guernica and its legacy, now seen alongside other works of significance
for Picasso’s artistic response to the dramatic circumstances of modern
warfare, such as The Charnel House (1945), Museum of Modern
Art, New York, and Massacre in Korea (1951), Musée
Picasso, Paris. Within this exceptional context, the Reina Sofía will
also be showing another masterpiece that expresses a condemnation of violence:
Goya’s 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid. The Executions on
Príncipe Pío from the Museo del Prado. Seen alongside the Guernica,
it will offer a unique image of the disasters of war.
The exhibition, curated by Carmen Giménez and Francisco Calvo Serraller,
has an Honorary Committee under the esteemed patronage of
Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain and whose president is the Spanish
Prime Minister. Other members of this committee are the Minister of Culture,
the heirs of the artist and representatives of the leading national and international
institutions which house works by the artist.
The exhibition is also organised in collaboration with the Fundación
Amigos del Museo del Prado and the Asociación de Amigos del Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, apart from the co-production by the State
Society for Cultural Commemorations and Winterthur’s sponsorship.
