“In chaotic times like today, Picasso becomes our contemporary: his example is a lesson in optimism, a model to follow, a boost to political commitment and artistic practice. Doesn’t the discovery of the hidden precariousness of the artist and the obstacles along his path give us a brutal and little-known image of xenophobia, of our contemporary, and of ourselves?”, he begins Annie Cohen-Solal (Algiers, 1948), French writer and historian who curates both exhibitions scheduled for September 2024, including Palazzo Te in Mantua e Royal Palace in Milan, on Pablo Picasso. In fact, although it seems that everything has already been said about the famous master, most people do not know that for almost 50 years he was branded as a foreigner and anarchist, so much so that he had to take refuge in the south of France after he was naturalization refused.
Picasso in Mantua with the exhibition “Picasso a Palazzo Te. Poetry and Salvation”
It’s scheduled from 5 September 2024 to 6 January 2025 the exhibition Picasso at Palazzo Te. Poetry and Salvationcreated thanks to the collaboration of the artist’s family and the Musée National Picasso-Paris and divided into four sections in close dialogue with the frescoes of Giulio Roman: “The relationship between the sixteenth-century painter and architect and Picasso passes through the work on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which the Spanish artist executed at the request of Albert Skira in 1931 and which is exhibited at the Palace. But the questions and mysteries raised by the work of Picasso and Giulio Romano go beyond thematic affinities: both artists are “friends” of change and see metamorphosis as a dominant theme. Both extract food and salvation from literature and poetrytogether they suggest a way of participating in art and life”, explains the director Stefano Baia Curioni. Thus on display, among drawings, documents, sculptures and paintings (some never exhibited in Italy), there are 50 works by the symbolic master of the twentieth century, in which the poetry plays a fundamental role, a real lifeline to overcome the numerous obstacles linked to his condition as a foreigner. “The artist masterfully navigates the multiple tensions of French society using metamorphosis as a strategy. He therefore becomes, on an aesthetic, personal and professional level, a mercurial artist that very few critics, especially in France, manage to decipher.”, says the curator.
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Picasso in Milan with the exhibition “Picasso the stranger” at Palazzo Reale
The exhibition will also open shortly after the opening in Mantua Picasso the stranger in Milan, scheduled from September 20, 2024 to February 2, 2025 at Palazzo Reale (and pre-sales of which are already available on the museum website). Coming from the MNPP and Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration in Paris, they will be presented here over 80 works of the artist together with documents, photographs, letters and videos. The Milanese exhibition, in fact, opens up to more reflections on the themes of reception, immigration and relationships with others, investigating the political and aesthetic choices of Picasso who never obtained French citizenship and shaped his own identity living in immigrant status. “The collaboration between Milan and Mantua in this double exhibition project represents an extraordinary opportunity to delve deeper into the complex figure of Picasso, an artist who was able to navigate the troubled waters of xenophobia and identity, finding a way in poetry and art to overcome obstacles”, concludes the culture councilor of the Municipality of Milan Tommaso Sacchi.
Caterina Angelucci
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