Pablo Picasso died on April 8, 1973 in Mougins. He is buried in the castle of Vauvenargues, in Provence, at the foot of the Cezannian mountain Sainte-Victoire. Although there are still four months to go before the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death is officially commemorated, today the kick-off of the anniversary has been given with the presentation of the program of activities with which eight countries from Europe and the United States, especially Spain and France, will remember the great artist with more than 42 exhibitions and two congresses, in addition to other tributes. All under the title ‘Picasso Celebration 1973-2023’.
At 9 in the morning, the Ministers of Culture of both countries, Miquel Iceta and Rima Abdul Malak, opened the events at a press conference before ‘Guernica’ at the Reina Sofía Museum. at 12:30, diego star gave the inaugural conference of the Picasso Year at the Prado Museum and at seven in the afternoon, again at the Reina Sofía, the Kings and the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, will preside over the opening ceremony of the commemorative activities. They will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares; the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, and the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta.
Much of the press conference with the Ministers of Culture of France and Spain has focused on whether or not the Year of Picasso will address the complex and complicated relationship between the artist and womenin the era of #MeToo. Picasso has been accused by certain social sectors of sexist, misogynist and even abuser. According to Iceta, who had a memory for Javier Marías (“Spanish letters have lost a giant”), “if there is an artist who defines the 20th century, who represents it with all its cruelty, its violence, its passion, its excesses and its contradictions, this artist is, without a doubt, Pablo Picasso». The minister explains that Picasso will be addressed as he was, without hiding facets of his life that today can be answered. An artist, says Iceta, who “is still alive 50 years after his death.”
In this line, the French minister, who was shooting for home («It was in France where Pablo became Picasso»), delved further: «Let’s be honest, today there are many debates about the reception of Picasso’s work, and in particular about his relationship with women. In order to lead the younger generations towards his art, we must provide keys to understanding and open spaces for exchange to encompass the whole of Picasso’s work. To show all the facets, all the possible ways of reading it». Rima Abdul Malak recalls that the Picasso Museum in Paris has already embarked on this political and historiographical reflection with exhibitions such as “Orlan. Les femmes qui pleurent sont en colère” and that the Brooklyn Museum in New York will review Picasso’s work through a feminist prismwhich will feature the collaboration of Australian comedian and humorist Hannah Gadsby.
The French Minister of Culture bets on not covering up this issue (“I believe in the debate and the confrontation of different points of view”), but she thinks that her immense and complex work should not be summarized in her relationship with women: “There are other many aspects of his work: politics, commitment, the fight against Francoism… It is necessary to address all areas of his work. There is no single reading. I am a feminist, and I have always defended equal rights for women, but I think that Picasso’s work should not be limited to this issue». «The abundant, inventive and often radical work of Picasso continues to exercise a real fascination throughout the world. Because of his artistic strength, of course. But also for its political strength. It never ceases to be reread, revised, and reinterpreted.” «At a time when the war is raging at the gates of Europe, when we are at the side of the Ukrainian people -continues Rima Abdul Malak- supporting them in their struggle for sovereignty and freedom, the power of ‘Guernica’ acquires a special. It connects us with Mariupol, Bucha, Mykolaiv…»
Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, grandson of the artist and coordinator of the Picasso Year in France, is committed to a serious debate about it: «The debate is open and it is important. In the 21st century a debate can be opened, we have evolved. But I am not obsessed with this matter. If there is quality of information to start a serious debate, perfect, but I see that the debate comes from things that I don’t know where they come from«. Bernard Ruiz-Picasso believes that the women who lived with Picasso were not forced or recruited to do so: they knew the risk of living with him. In 2019, in statements to various media, including ABC, during the presentation of an exhibition at the Picasso Museum in Malaga, he even said: «Picasso was a great feminist. The problem is the woman. Picasso was not responsible, he was not hiding anything ».
Carlos Alberdi, who replaced the long-awaited José Guirao as commissioner for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death in Spain (the former minister was able to design the program), points out that «women are the conversation par excellence in the 21st century. She is going to come out and you have to let her flow. It is an issue that is there and must be developed. There is no need to be afraid of studies and investigations». Alberdi recommends rereading the book written by Françoise Gilot (‘Life with Picasso’), in which the artist does not exactly come off well.
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In order to coordinate ‘Celebration ‘Picasso 1973-2023’, the French and Spanish authorities, in response to the commitment agreed at the XXVI Franco-Spanish Summit of Montauban (March 15, 2021), a bilateral commission was created, which has launched an ambitious program of activities, in which the generosity of loans from the Picasso Museum in Paris stands out, which will give around 600 works for different exhibitions.
As to spain, will have a budget of 6 million euros: 3 million will be contributed by the State and another 3 by a private sponsor: Telefónica. There will be 16 exposures about Picasso in our country. In a few days the Mapfre Foundation will address a face to face between Picasso and Julio González around sculpture, the Thyssen Museum will do the same in October with Picasso and Coco Chanel -in 2023 it will open ‘Picasso. The sacred and the profane’- and the Picasso Museum in Barcelona will focus on the figure of its dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. Other Spanish institutions will join the Picasso Year, such as the Museum of Fine Arts of La Coruña (‘Picasso white in the blue memory’), the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (‘Picasso. Masterpieces of the Nahmad Collection’), the Museo Picasso de Málaga (‘Picasso: matter and body’ and ‘The echo of Picasso’), La Casa Encendida (‘The last Picasso 1963-1972’), the Prado (‘Picasso-El Greco’) -a reduced version of which was inaugurated a few months ago by the Basel Kunstmuseum-, the Picasso Birthplace Museum in Malaga (‘The Ages of Pablo’), the Design Museum in Barcelona (‘Picasso and Spanish ceramics’), the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid (‘Picasso Vs. Velázquez’), the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (‘Picasso: matter and body’), the Picasso Museum and the Miró Foundation in Barcelona (‘Miró-Picasso’) and will conclude in November 2023 at the Reina Sofia with one of the most anticipated exhibitions: ‘Picasso 1906: the great transformation’.
As to France, there will be eleven Picasso exhibitions. In Paris, the Pompidou in Paris stands out, which will bring together 2,023 drawings by the artist next year; ‘The Paris of the modern years 1905-1925’, at the Petit Palais; ‘Gertrude Stein and Picasso. The invention of language’, at the Luxembourg Museum… The Picasso Museum in the French capital, which will lend almost its entire collection, will review it through the artist Sophie Calle and the designer Paul Smith. The French minister did not reveal the amount of the budget. She just said: “It’s a human adventure, it’s priceless.” In New York, the Metropolitan (‘Cubism and the trompe-l’oeil tradition’), the Guggenheim (‘Young Picasso in Paris’) and the Hispanic Society of America (‘Picasso and Celestina’) are added. In addition, there will be exhibitions in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Romania and the Principality of Monaco.
Apart from the exhibitions, there will be two academic conferences. One of them will take place this fall at the Reina Sofía Museum, which will open the reflection from the context of the first avant-garde Picasso. Coinciding with the inauguration of the new Picasso Museum Archives and Study Center in Paris, between December 6 and 8, 2023, the UNESCO headquarters in the French capital will host an international symposium on the theme ‘Picasso in the XXI century: historiographical and cultural issues’. It will feature the participation of art historians, curators, artists, writers, collectors… It is not planned to reopen to the public, as happened for a few days in 2009, the castle of Vauvenargues, where the tomb of Picasso is located.