Paris Picasso exhibit shows artist side by side with famous forbears
January 27, 2009
France’s most expensive art show in history compares and contrasts Picasso and Velazquez, others
Picasso is a painter most people think of as flouting tradition. But he was actually very much influenced by more classical painters from the past. “Picasso and the Masters”, showing at the Grand Palais in Paris, hangs Picasso’s Cubist works alongside the paintings of other artists that inspired him. Since Picasso usually chose the most prominent masterworks of his predecessors to draw from, getting such famous paintings from around the world for the Paris exhibit was not easy — or cheap. Museums from the Prado in Madrid, Spain, to the Museum of Modern Art in New York lent their works to the show. In the end there were so many paintings to show that parallel exhibits are also mounted at the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay. The exhibit is costing France $5.8 million in insurance and insurance and transport for the art treasures.
At the Grand Palais, several Cubist Picasso nudes are paired with with well-known inspirations: Manet’s “Olympia,” a naked, reclining girl gazing at the viewer, and Goya’s similar reclining girl, The Nude Maja, also very famous. Picasso also painted a number of Cubist versions of Velazquez’s “Las Meninas” (The Maids of Honor), the familiar 17th century masterpiece featuring a child princess, Margarita Teresa of Spain. While Velazquez’ original painting uses a classical style and dark tones, Picasso used bright blues, yellows and greens in his homages, making the characters more abstract. Unfortunately, France was not able to persuade the Prado in Madrid to loan its masterpiece for the Pciasso exhibit, so a slide is projected on the wall instead.
Seeing the master of Cubism side by side with works three hundred years older shows that perhaps Picasso was not the maverick everyone thought he was… or perhaps it only proves that putting a new twist on an old idea creates something totally unique.
“Picasso and the Masters” runs at the Grand Palais through Feb. 2, along with smaller shows at the Louvre and Orsay Museums. A similar Picasso exhibit will follow at London’s National Gallery from Feb. 25 to June 7.
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.