The Spanish Minister of Culture denounces the “cancel culture” towards Picasso

2023-05-12 19:14:40

By Le Figaro with AFP

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“I think we have to keep Picasso as a whole. It was like that, he had the life he had, but he was a genius“Launched the Spanish Minister of Culture to journalists. © Jerome Brierre /Leemage

With the 50^e anniversary of his death, the minotaur is the subject of much criticism. A contemporary reinterpretation deplored by Rima Abdul Malak’s counterpart, Miquel Iceta.

Spain’s Culture Minister Miquel Iceta expressed in Paris on Friday his refusal to “erase” painter Pablo Picasso, as criticism of his treatment of his partners resurfaces with the 50^e anniversary of his death. “I think we have to keep Picasso as a whole. It was like that, he had the life he had, but he was a genius. Without him, the history of XX art^e century cannot be explained”declared the minister in front of journalists.

Mr Iceta traveled to the French capital to take part in a visit with his French counterpart, Rima Abdul Malak, and French President Emmanuel Macron to the Picasso Museum.

Fifty years after his death, the painter (1881-1973) continues to fascinate the public. Museums around the world, particularly in France and Spain, have programmed around fifty exhibitions this year on the native of Malaga.

But with the #MeToo movement, the image of this monument of painting has been tarnished by accusations of misogyny and violence against his former companions. Picasso is thus a target of the “cancel culture” which aims to erase from the collective memory of famous public figures because of behavior deemed in the aftermath reprehensible, especially towards women. “I am against cancel culture, which would deprive children and adults of the figure of Picasso because certain aspects of his life may be controversial”underlined Miquel Iceta.

For the Spanish minister, his work “has not yet found an equivalent” and his career in Spain and France “made him a global artist”. “All that is Picasso and therefore we are not going to censor” the artist, he added.

Picasso’s relationship with women will be the subject of an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in New York starting this summer. “We must stop talking about the women who have crossed his life as muses. Some committed suicide, others went mad. The only one who got out of it was Françoise Gilot, also the only one to have left him”said Emilie Bouvard, former curator of the Picasso Museum, interviewed in April by AFP.

A painter now based in the United States, Françoise Gilot described Picasso as a “tyrannical, superstitious and selfish being”, in a bestselling book “Vivre avec Picasso”, published in 1964.