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Roberto Otero Archive

Pablo Picasso and Roberto Otero in the living room at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, Mougins, August 1966

The Argentinian journalist, writer and photographer Roberto Otero (1931-2004) was introduced to Pablo Picasso by mutual acquaintances and they remained close friends from 1960 until the artist’s final years. Roberto Otero was an inside observer of the artist’s mature period full of energy and good humour.

These photos are a small sample of the Fondo Roberto Otero, acquired by Museo Picasso Málaga in 2005. The entire archive, comprises of more than 1,500 images, documents, notebooks and correspondence is available to scholars and researchers in our Library. Vegap manages the copyright of these selection of images.

Picasso's everyday life

The Argentine journalist and photographer Roberto Otero was one of the few reporters to whom the Málaga-born painter opened the doors of his house in the south of France, allowing him to record for posterity not only his working environment in the 1960s but also many scenes from his daily life: his family, his friends and his customs.

Discover the Roberto Otero Photographic Archive

Pablo and Jacqueline Picasso in the sculpture room, Notre-Dame-de-Vie, Mougins, October 1966

Picasso and his work

Te images of the Roberto Otero Photographic Archive reveal Pablo Picasso going about his everyday life, whether at work on his latest exhibition of ceramics in Vallauris, selecting pieces for the Homage to Picasso retrospective, or playing host to friends and professionals in the company of his wife, Jacqueline Roque. They also illustrate the solitude the artist sought in his creative process and the artworks he lived with every day.

Picasso working on the project The Chicago Picasso, Notre-Dame-de-Vie, Mougins, August 1966

Otero and the written memory of Picasso

The close relationship between Roberto Otero and Pablo Picasso generated, in addition to an extensive photographic archive, close to a large family album that constitutes an exceptional testimony to the daily life of the Andalusian artist, a large documentary archive made up of diverse materials ranging from the correspondence that Otero maintained with people close to the artist, notebooks with notes of their meetings, posters of his exhibitions, among other documents.

Notebook with annotations by Roberto Otero. Notre-Dame-de-Vie (Mougins), [1966-1967].

Picasso as seen by Otero

Exhibitions

The Museo Picasso Málaga has on several occasions presented part of the archive of the Otero Fund in exhibitions. Discover all Roberto Otero Photographic Archive exhibitions so far.