ROME, ITALY – An exhibit is opening Friday at Rome’s Scuderie del Quirinale to celebrate the centennial of Pablo Picasso’s trip to Italy in 1917 with friend Jean Cocteau.
This was the trip during which Picasso met and fell in love with Olga Khokhlova, the first dancer in the company and his first wife. In addition to those few but decisive weeks spent in Italy – critical in the development of Picasso’s post-war art – the exhibition examines his work immediately following his time there, casting light on his exceptional capacity for experimenting with different styles, from the joyful decorativism of collage-inspired works to the stylized realism of the paintings from the so-called Diaghilev years, from his still lifes with their Cubist leanings to the antiquity-inspired portraits with their solemnity evocative of the classical world.
Far from the war, Picasso experienced an artistic renaissance in Rome, getting to know members of the Futurist and Secessionist movements coming into contact with renaissance and classic art and Italian traditional iconography, in particular the masques of Pulcinella as he travelled to Naples, Pompeii, Florence and
Milan.
The exhibition includes extraordinary masterpieces generously loaned from the most prestigious museums in the world, from the Musée Picasso in Paris – a partner in the project – to the MoMa in New York, the Tate in London, the Museu Picasso in Barcellona, the Guggenheim in New York, the Thyssen in Madrid, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Bridgestone in Tokyo, the Berggruen Museum in Berlin and the Fondation Beyeler in Basil.
Because of its monumental dimensions (10 x 16 metres), the immense stage curtain Picasso painted for the ballet Parade in 1917, on loan from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, cannot be displayed in the Scuderie del Quirinale. It is presented under the vault frescoed by Pietro da Cortona in the Salone of Palazzo Barberini, part of the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica museum network.
Picasso. Between Cubism and Classicism: 1915-1925 curated by Olivier Berggruen from 22 September to 21 January 2018.
Le Scuderie del Quirinale Rome, via XXIV Maggio 16
Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm, Friday and Saturday from 10:00am to 10:30pm
All tickets include the audio guide in Italian, English and French. Full price € 15.00, reduced price € 13.00, under 18 free admission.
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