As of today, October 3, 2023 until March 31, 2024, the Museo Picasso Málaga is hosting The Echo of Picasso. Pablo Picasso worked in an extraordinary variety of styles and had an enormous influence on twentieth-century art that has continued into the twenty-first century. Besides Cubism, his main contribution to modern art is the freedom that characterises every aspect of his paintings, sculptures and graphic works.

It is generally agreed that Picasso made a profound impact on the art world, and it may be said that no previous artist had such a mass of followers and admirers, as well as critics. That is why, fifty years on from the artist’s death, it seems fitting to speak of ‘echoes’ with respect to the freedom that comes from chronological distance and the resonance of new voices. The Echo of Picasso at the Museo Picasso Málaga offers the possibility of exploring contemporary art in greater depth through the dialogue that artists from all over the world have established with Picasso and his oeuvre.

The show brings together fifty-five artists, including Picasso himself, in a dialogue established with the Málaga-born creator both ‘in real time’, during the artist’s lifetime, and in the contemporary period. It displays works by Picasso alongside those of artists who acknowledged his influence on them, such as Francis Bacon, Maria Lassnig, George Condo and Martin Kippenberger. It also features pieces by contemporary artists like Claire Tabouret, Rashid Johnson, Brian Calvin and Farah Atassi, seventeen of whom have created works specially for The Echo of Picasso, which will be shown here for the first time. Of the eighty-five works brought together in the exhibition, eighteen are by Pablo Picasso. A particularly noteworthy piece is the large-format canvas entitled Massacre in Korea from the Musée Picasso in Paris, which has not travelled to Spain for fifteen years.

Curated by Eric Troncy, The Echo of Picasso is based precisely on the effect Picasso’s artistic practices have on contemporary art and above all on today’s globalised scene. A French art critic and exhibition curator, Troncy has organised more than a hundred monographic exhibitions at Le Consortium art centre in Dijon, of which he is codirector, and at many other prominent art institutions. As he states in his curatorial text, this exhibition is unique in that ‘exploring, on the one hand, the extraordinary presence of Picasso in oour imaginary and, on the other, the profound imprint left by his constant search for new forms of Artistic expression on the endeavours of more recent generatios’. Michael FitzGerald, professor of fine arts at Trinity College, Hartford, confirms in the exhibition catalogue that ‘Picasso continually claimed this absolute freedom as an artist. Perhaps that is his most enduring echo’.

The exhibition therefore acts as an echo in an enclosed space, exploring the visual experience of these resonances through the loans of exceptional works by artists from the 1920s to the present day. Instead of attempting to establish an exhaustive catalogue, which would probably involve most artists of the past hundred years, the exhibition proposes a dreamlike journey through the echoes of Pablo Picasso’s astonishing experimentation experienced by various periods, styles and generations. The Echo of Picasso will allow visitors to rethink the artist’s work and rediscover an up-to-date Picasso, revealed through the gaze of artists of other generations. The museum offers visitors an audio guide service in Spanish and English to provide further information about the works on show and a more in-depth understanding of the exhibition’s arguments, sometimes with quotations by the artists.

PUBLICATION AND EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

The exhibition catalogue complements the show with biographies of the fifty-five artists featured in it, as well as a text explaining the concept devised by the curator, Eric Troncy, and an enlightening essay by Picasso specialist Michael FitzGerald. Both the Spanish and English editions of the book are cloth-bound hardcover and profusely illustrated.

As is common practice, the Museo Picasso Málaga will be organising workshops for adults on some of the artistic techniques featured in the show, as well as a series of talks with artists and experts. The cultural and educational offering also includes a wide-ranging programme for children and families, one for schoolchildren of all ages and a social participation project aimed at women in vulnerable situations.

PICASSO CELEBRATION 1973–2023

April 8, 2023 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, an event on which the celebration of his oeuvre and artistic legacy in France, Spain and internationally has been centred. The French and Spanish governments have worked together on an international programme through a bi-national commission that brings together the cultural and diplomatic administrations of both countries.

The Picasso Celebration 1973–2023 revolves around some fifty exhibitions and events at renowned cultural institutions in Europe and America that, together, carry out a historiographical analysis of Picasso’s work. The commemoration, accompanied by official celebrations in France and Spain, will make it possible to take stock of the research and interpretations of the artist’s work, especially during an important international symposium in autumn 2023, which also coincides with the opening of the Centre d’Etudes Picasso in Paris.

The Spanish National Commission for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso and the Musée national Picasso-Paris are pleased to support this exceptional programme, with Teléfonica as collaborating company in Spain. Telefónica, a leading global telecommunications company in the provision of technological, digital and communication solutions and services, will be present at all the events celebrating the work of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso on the anniversary of his death. With this initiative, Telefónica wishes to join in the dissemination of the oeuvre of the great Málaga-born artist, hailed as one of the most prolific painters of all time, by making his art more accessible to all audiences. The exhibition at the Museo Picasso Málaga has been staged in collaboration with Fundación ‘la Caixa’.

Our thanks also go to Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, grandson of the artist and president of the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Madrid (FABA), a member of the Franco-Spanish commission in charge of this celebration, as well as trustee and president of the Executive Council of the Museo Picasso Málaga