Spanish cities mark the 50th Anniversary of Picasso's passing

Written on : 04 May 2023
By : Steve Dunne

Throughout 2023 Spain is marking the 50^th anniversary of the Spanish master’s death by holding a number of events in his honour up and down the country. We take a look at some of the most eye-catching and remind ourselves of the monumental impact this giant of the art world had over the 20^th century.

Born in Malaga in 1881, Picasso’s nomadic upbringing saw him move to Coruña, Barcelona and later Madrid during his formative years, each with each city leaving an indelible mark on the works of the young artist. The notoriously prolific Picasso also left a great many of his works scattered around the cities he dwelled in. It is these cities in particular that host much of The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023.

Málaga - The Birthplace of Pablo Picasso

The birthplace of Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Málaga was where he first picked up a pencil (“piz piz” – a shortened version of the Spanish word for pencil, “lápiz”, were said to have been his first words). Here at the age of seven he began to receive instruction from his father, a local art teacher. It is therefore fitting that we start here at his first house, now a museum, to explore his culturally rich hometown’s celebrations.

The Ages of Pablo will run from the 21 June until 1 October at the Museo Casa Natal Picasso, and will offer something of an overview of Picasso’s different (and differing) periods. This exhibition will present the museum’s own collection of his works alongside other noteworthy pieces gathered from around Spain, including paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, engravings, ceramics and illustrated books.

This will be followed at the nearby Museo Picasso Málaga by The Echoes of Picasso, running from 2 October until 24 March of 2024, which will explore the vast influence Picasso had on a number of styles developed throughout the 20^th century, both in terms of the boundary-breaking impact of Cubism and its later influence on surrealism, and in terms of his global and globalised approach to art, which paved the way for the transcontinental conversation that has challenged and invigorated the art world throughout the last 100 years. Picasso had always wished for his work to be displayed in his home city, and the opening of the museum in 2003, where more than 200 of his works are now on display, was the fulfilment of that wish.

Finally, a fascinating exhibition of Picasso’s sculptures – the first such exhibition – titled Picasso Sculptor. Body and Matter will be held at the Picasso Museum before travelling to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. This will examine the fundamental role that Picasso’s relationship with sculpture played on all his subsequent works, in particular how he used it to better understand and develop his approach to human form. Taking place in September (and then between October and January 24 at the Guggenheim), the event will display a vast array of his sculptures, in different styles and using a variety of materials, including wood, bronze, cement, steel and plaster. As the artist himself stated: “No art is more or less important than the others”. This is a wonderful opportunity to see just what he meant.

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Barcelona - Where Picasso Felt Most at Home

Following a 4-year stay in La Coruña which ended in the tragic death of Picasso’s sister Conchita of diphtheria, the family relocated to Barcelona in 1895, where Picasso’s father took up a job at the School of Fine Arts. Later, his father convinced the local academy to consider the younger Picasso for inclusion into the academy, despite his tender years. After successfully completing an exam that would usually take month in just one week, the then 13 year old Picasso joined the academy where he thrived. The publication of ‘The First Communion’ at age 15 was a watershed, with a newfound maturity marking the beginning of Picasso’s oeuvre as a ‘true artist’.

It was here that the young Picasso was said to have felt most at home, the Catalan city’s bohemian culture offering him plenty of opportunity to fraternise with and draw influence from other artists, many of whom were of the avant garde, while the warm Mediterranean light bouncing off of the city’s gothic rooftops and facades offered a symphony of shapes and colours and provided endless inspiration to the young artist. He would go on to live in a number of cities in Spain and Europe but the pull of Barcelona was a constant throughout his life. Today the Picasso Museum in Barcelona holds no less than 4000 of his works.

The Museu del Disseny de Barcelona will be honouring Picasso with The Will of Picasso. The Ceramics that Inspired the Artist, which is scheduled to run through the summer months from the end of June until mid-September.

The exhibition is inspired by an episode in the life of the great man, who, upon visiting the Palais Miramar in Cannes in 1957 and seeing the exhibition of Spanish ceramics on show, remarked with some astonishment “but is it possible that they have done this before me?”. He then offered 16 of his own ceramics to showcase alongside the greats from throughout the ages.

Shortly afterwards in October we will see a joint exhibition, fittingly spread between the Fundació Joan Miró and the Museu Picasso de Barcelona simply titled Miró – Picasso and based on the lifelong friendship between the two great artists, as well as their close connection with the city of Barcelona. The event joint event will run from 19 October until 25 February 2024.
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Madrid - Where Picasso Discovered the Greats

With his development accelerating rapidly, Picasso was soon sent to Madrid to attend Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the top art school in Spain. While his interest in formal classes waned, his passion for the city and, in particular, the galleries and museums which housed works from greats such as Valázquez, Goya and El Greco (the latter’s before-their-time experiments with physical form were a huge influence on young Picasso) was waxing, opening new doors inside the mind of the developing artist.

Today, the Reina Sofia museum houses perhaps Picasso’s most important work, Guernica – his breath-taking depiction of the carnage and heartbreak of the Spanish Civil War, all captured in his representation of the bombing of the Basque Town.

The Spanish capital will of course be taking a prominent role in the commemoration of perhaps the country’s most celebrated artist. La Casa Encendida is the venue for a fascinating event: Picasso. Untitled. 50 Years, 50 Works, 50 Artists, which begins on the 19th of May and runs until early January 2024. This interesting proposal will see Picasso’s least-known later works (1963-73) examined by contemporary artists, who will be invited to rename them ‘as a vindication of the artist in a present and also future space’, in doing so addressing the question implicit in the appreciation of his work, regarding identity, race, class and gender. The conversation regarding what happens when historical works meet modern sensibilities and thinking is sure to ignite some active debate among attendees.

There is also an excellent exhibition to be held at the Prado Museum which will delve into the young Picasso’s artistic relationship with his exulted forebears, from Velazquez to El Greco, placing Picasso’s works alongside those of his heroes during the ‘blue’ and early cubist stages of his career. You will be able to visit Picasso y El Greco from the middle of June until mid-September.

Beyond Spain - Events held in Paris

Of course, Picasso went on to enjoy international acclaim and spent large periods of his adult life living outside of his homeland, in particular in France, before his death in Mougins in the beautiful south of France at the age of 91.

It is therefore fitting that a number of events will also be taking place across France, notably in Paris, which will see the opening of the Centre for Picasso Studies at the Musée National Picasso-Paris, home to his famous 1930 work L’acrobate.

Paris will also be the venue for a major international symposium taking place between the 6^th and 8^th of December at UNESCO, during which all of the partners involved in putting together this year’s celebrations (art historians, curators, artists, writers etc.) will gather to discuss his legacy in Picasso in the 21st Century: Historical and Cultural Issues.

Elsewhere, others have gone to even greater lengths to mark 50 years since the great artist’s passing…