The show, which will open to the general public on Thursday, offers art lovers a unique opportunity to see more than 120 engravings, book illustrations and ceramics created by Picasso over several decades.
Warsaw's National Museum writes on its website: “Dazzling with their diversity of style, colour and emotion, the selected works tell the story of Picasso’s artistic evolution.”
Most of the exhibits are on loan from the Museo Casa Natal Picasso (Picasso’s Birthplace Museum) in Malaga, Spain, and will be put on display in Poland for the first time.
The exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death and celebrates Spain’s presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year.
The first section of the exhibition focuses on Picasso’s reflections on beauty. The second one deals with the artist’s fascination with mythological creatures such as fauns and centaurs.
The third section presents a wide selection of ceramic objects, whereas the last section is dedicated to the Polish strand in the artist’s oeuvre and includes pieces from the National Museum’s own Picasso collection.
Picasso visited Poland in 1948 to take part in the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace in the southwestern city of Wrocław, an event marked by a strong rhetoric directed against “American imperialism.”
The artist’s tour also comprised Kraków in the south and the capital Warsaw. In the Polish capital, Picasso donated to the National Museum a collection of ceramic dishes and graphic prints, which are featured at the exhibition.
The exhibition is co-curated by Mario Virgilio Montañez Arroyo from the Museo Casa Natal Picasso and Anna Manicka from the National Museum in Warsaw.
Co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the display has been put together with help from the Spanish embassy in Warsaw.
The exhibition runs until January 14.
(mk/gs)
