Author: Nathalie Leleu

“¡ Picasso ! ”, an unprecedented exhibition

The ¡ Picasso ! anniversary exhibition presented on the five floors of Hôtel Salé illustrates the continuity and deep unity of the collection and the history of the museum. The Musée National Picasso-Paris has the world’s largest public collection of Pablo Picasso’s work, covering all his creative periods and all fields, including “Picasso’s Picassos” straight from the artist’s studio. Pablo Picasso’s personal archives and the museum’s archives are at the heart of this exhibition project. They echo the masterpieces and, as most of them have never been exhibited before, give a different interpretation of the life, creative process and circulation of the master’s artworks

A large visual collage invites visitors to go on a tour of the five floors of Hôtel Salé starting with the history of the museum (basement), discover a chronological presentation of the major works (ground floor and 1st floor), then “Pablo Picasso – public figure” (2nd floor), and meet the “private Picasso” (3rd floor). This is a contemporary interpretation of Picasso’s works that alternates between rooms featuring dense displays and more intimate sequences.

From 2015 October 20

10 scientific curators : Violette Andres, Sophie Annoepel–Cabrignac, Émilie Bouvard, Yve-Alain Bois, Laure Collignon, Laurent Le Bon, Nathalie Leleu, Virginie Perdrisot, Emilia Philippot, Jeanne-Yvette Sudour

Catalogue in French

Exhibition design

The architectural part of the exhibition design is based on a family of forms and devices for modular exhibitions.
Laid out so visitors can circulate freely, the set accompanies Picasso’s artworks and offers a formal connection with the museum’s built framework.

Four architectural variations (specific ornamental patterns and details) help identify the areas of the exhibition. These elements of style are inspired by and evoke the different compositional techniques in Picasso’s works: superimposition, collage, assemblage and deconstruction.

The play of modenatures, solids and hollows, matte finishes alternating with glossy finishes all create variations of language and assert its movement.

The transparency of the devices allows the superimposition and visual re-composition of different levels of interpretation and lets visitors take in the different media of works and the archive documents in one single glance. White was chosen so that the visitor’s eye would not be diverted from the artist’s different palettes.

The exhibition thus establishes closeness with the artworks, visitors are gradually immersed in the creative movement, encouraged to wander around the artworks freely and discover their singular nature and how they interact.

The exhibition at a glance :

4 distinct parts: the history of the museum, the collection masterpieces, Picasso the public figure, Picasso the private figure
– 105 paintings (including 86 by Picasso)
– 92 sculptures (85 by Picasso) including 22 ceramic pieces, 13 objects and 1 textile artwork
– 192 graphic artworks (186 by Picasso) including 94 illustrations, 20 sketch books, 10 illustrated books, 62 prints and et 6 print matrices
– 190 photographs
– 1 contemporary installation
– 4 films and about 30 INA extracts
– 314 archives including 223 documents and correspondences, 38 periodicals, 31 publications and 22 objects