At a glance: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy

Critics have mused that The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy will be the most talked-about art exhibition of 2018. The first-ever Pablo Picasso solo show at Tate Modern in London, it takes as its focuses on the Spanish artist’s ‘year of wonders’ – an intensely creative period in his life. It was during these 12 months that he produced a series of groundbreaking paintings and prints.
 
So, what is the Tate team behind the show most looking forward to?  ‘We are very proud to have been able to include Picasso’s three nudes from the month of March: Nude, Green Leaves and Bust; Nude in a Black Armchair and The Mirror,’ says Juliette Rizzi, assistant curator at Tate Modern, who helped bring together more than 100 works for the exhibition. ‘They are one of his greatest pictorial achievements during that time.’
 
The three paintings, depicting Picasso’s French lover and model Marie-Thérèse Walter, will be exhibited together for the first time ever.
 
‘Painted over the course of only five days, they show Picasso’s creativity in referencing masters of the Renaissance such as Titian and Velasquez,’ she explains Rizzi, ‘but with a contemporary twist infused with sensuality.’

Revealing glimpses

Alongside such major paintings, the exhibition will showcase more intimate pieces, including family photos that will give visitors a rare glimpse into Picasso’s personal life, as well as sculptures and drawings.
 
Rizzi advises visitors not to miss the latter: ‘A room in the exhibition will be dedicated to Picasso’s charcoal drawings on canvas, which are surprising works that he made during 1932,’ she says. ‘They are works in their own right, and refer to similar themes explored by the artist in his paintings.’
 
As Rizzi notes, these charcoal works provide a window into his working practices: ‘I find them particularly fascinating, as they give an insight into Picasso’s process of constructing an image, revealing erasures and lines which he re-worked.’
 
Promising to strip away the myths around Picasso and reveal both the man and the artist in his full complexity and richness, the Tate Modern show is set to be huge.
 
The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy is showing at Tate Modern in London until 9 September, organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with Musée National Picasso-Paris. See www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Images: Pablo Picasso, Nude in a Black Armchair (Nu au fauteuil noir), 1932, Oil paint on canvas, 1613 x 1295 mm, Private Collection, USA © Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2017. Pablo Picasso, Nude Woman in a Red Armchair (Femme nue dans un fauteuil rouge), 1932, Oil paint on canvas, 1299 x 972 mm, Tate. Purchased 1953 © Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2017. Pablo Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (Femme nue, feuilles et buste), 1932, Oil paint on canvas, 1620 x 1300 mm, Private Collection © Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2017. Pablo Picasso, Reclining Nude (Femme nue couchée), 1932, Oil paint on canvas, 1300 x 1610 mm, Private Collection © Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2017. Cecil Beaton, Pablo Picasso, rue La Boétie, 1933, Paris © The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby's.