Picasso's staff finial
GoMA’s latest exhibition, ‘Picasso & His Collection’, provides a rare view of Pablo Picasso, the artist and his influences. Normally, these works are housed in Paris in the Musée National Picasso and this is the first opportunity to see them displayed outside of Europe.
Like anyone, Picasso is the product of his time, his place, his friends. And ‘Picasso & His Collection’ bring the artwork of Picasso’s friends and important influences together.
There’s no need to be an art expert to appreciate the similarities between, for example, Picasso’s print of brothel workers in Scène èrotique and the explicit monotypes of Edgar Degas. And it’s easy to see the similarities between a work by Salvador Dali (which he gave to Picasso) and Picasso’s exploration of surrealism in the 1930s.
Seeing similar works and influences nearby put the art in context. It makes you realise that an artist, even a famous one like Picasso, is influenced heavily by the art of others. Seeing his personal collection will improve your understanding of Picasso’s own works.
Information beside the paintings explain how and when Picasso acquired them. Many paintings, drawings and prints came via art dealers, his banker and with direct swaps with his artist friends (his friends included Matisse!). How wonderful to have witnessed the conversations then, something along the lines of “I’ll swap my masterpiece for your masterpiece…” For example, Matisse swapped his beautiful canvas of Marguerite for Picasso’s Pitcher, Bowl and Lemon.
Picasso also did buy others’ works including Henri Rousseau’s Portrait of a Woman. He picked it up ‘for a pittance’ from a second-hand shop in 1907.
It was surprising and refreshing to see the lack of formality and perhaps disregard in which Picasso stored and displayed his significant collection. Giant photos of his apartment are one of the first images of the exhibition and there’s the sense of walking into his cluttered home, with canvases sitting on the floor, stacked against each other and dozens of incredible works hung all over his walls. Apparently, Picasso didn’t treat his collected works as a ‘collection’ in the traditional sense. They were to inspire and stimulate him. He collected a lot of works but not in a systematic way. He gathered both deliberately and randomly, by design or by good fortune.
Not only can you see the paintings, drawings, monotypes and prints by Picasso and other well-known artists of his time, but there's a wonderful selection of Oceanic and African pieces collected by Picasso, including objects, statues and masks.
The middle hall provides lots of written details of Picasso’s life, his various homes and short biographies of the artists he collected.
Read more about this artist’s life or an overview of the GoMA exhibition, complete with ticket and event information.
