The Picassos of Antibes

From 13 March to 11 June 2006

When in 1946 Picasso received the offer to use one of the great rooms in the castle at Antibes as a studio, he exclaimed enthusiastically: “I’m not only going to paint, I’ll decorate the museum too”. The result was a series of paintings and drawings - on rather unusual supports due to the shortage of materials in the post-World War Two period - that reflected the jubilant spirit, the joie de vivre, of a country that was free once more. Picasso later added sculptures, graphic works and ceramics to this collection, forming the basis for what would be France’s first museum dedicated to him, inaugurated in 1966 as Musée Picasso, Antibes.

The Picassos of Antibes is an exhibition never before seen in Spain, comprising a selection of the most outstanding works from the museum collection, a large number of works having never been shown beyond the museum’s walls. These include the murals Joie de Vivre (The Joy of Life) or Antipolis (1946), The Sea Urchin Eater (1946) and the impressive sculpture Head of Woman with Chignon (1932). In all, 73 works, featuring paintings, drawings, sculptures and ceramics that serve to illustrate a splendid period in Picasso’s artistic career, and which will be presented to the Spanish public at the Museo Picasso Málaga.

The exhibition will later travel to the Museu Picasso, Barcelona, the Palazzo Grassi in Venice (Italy) and the Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster (Germany). This exhibition coincides with the closure of the Musée Picasso, Antibes for refurbishment next year. The exhibition The Picassos of Antibes in Malaga and Barcelona is organized by the Musée Picasso, Antibes";" the Museo Picasso Málaga";" and the Museu Picasso, Barcelona.

Exhibition of Photographs by Michel Sima

From 13 March to 11 June 2006

Coinciding with the exhibition The Picassos of Antibes, the Museo Picasso Málaga presents a selection of photographs in the collection of the Musée Picasso, Antibes by the Polish artist Michel Smajewski, better known as Michel Sima. Taken whilst the Malagan artist was working in Antibes, these photographs provide an artistic and historical complement to the exhibition, portraying the context in which Picasso created the works that encompass the collection of the Musée Picasso, Antibes.

Michel Sima was born in Poland in 1912 and moved to Paris in 1929, attracted by the exciting artistic life of the French capital. Whilst studying there, he made many friends, including the Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine, with whom he worked in 1934, and Picasso himself. Imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War, just after his release, in 1946, Sima suggested a meeting on the beach between Picasso and Dor de la Souchère, who invited the Malagan artist to use part of the GrimaldiCastle as his studio.

Picasso. The Female Figure

From October 2006 to February 2007

Picasso. The Female Figure is a review of the important role women play as an artistic subject in Pablo Picasso’s work. Through 70 works, including paintings, drawings and sculptures, the exhibition explores the powerful female presence that permanently pervades Picasso’s production, in which women are characterised in muse and model.

The selection is made up, for the most part, of portraits and nudes, created between the first decade of the 20th century, when his muse was Fernande Olivier, and the artist’s final years, which he spent with Jacqueline Roque. Indeed, the exhibition features a considerable number of works from this later period, which dates from the late-1940s to the early-1970s.

The works on show here formed part of the collection of Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s second wife and his intimate companion during the last decades of his life. Many of them, now owned by public and private collections in France and the United States, have been shown only rarely.

THE COLLECTION. NEW LOANS

In 2006, the Museo Picasso Málaga Collection will benefit from a total of 29 new loans of paintings, drawings and sculptures. These works include such paintings as Standing Nude (1928), Suzanna and the Elders (1955) and Father and Child (1971)“;” sculptures such as Woman on Pedestal (Reclining Swimmer) (1931) and Femenine Form (1948)“;” and a series of rarely-seen drawings that will provide an interesting addition to the MPM Collection.

These works will provide new elements for a dialogue with the Collection, offering a different, unique route through the exhibition rooms, taking the visitor on an extraordinary journey to discover the fascinating work of Pablo Picasso: from his first academic studies to his neoclassical figures, from the overlapping perspectives of Cubism to his experiments in ceramics, from re-workings of Old Masters to his late paintings in the 1970s. The Collection encompasses his groundbreaking innovations and the wide range of styles, materials and techniques that he mastered.

LECTURE SEASON

Picasso and the Mediterranean

From March to May 2006

Coinciding with the exhibition The Picassos of Antibes, recognised experts on Picasso’s works explore the Malagan artist’s relationship with the Mediterranean Sea, beside which he was born and died. Participants include Robert Rosenblum and Kenneth Silver, both fro New YorkUniversity, as well as Jean-Louis Andral, director of the Musée Picasso, Antibes, and María Teresa Ocaña, director of the Museu Picasso, Barcelona. The lectures will take place on Thursdays at 8 pm at the MPM Auditorium beginning 30 March.

Phoenician Malaga

Autumn 2006

Archaeologists’ views of Málaga have changed greatly thanks to recent findings, which point to an important Phoenician presence in the area around the Alcazaba and in the subsoil of the MPM itself. This autumn, a congress organised in cooperation with the University of Málaga and the Culture Delegation of the Junta de Andalucía will throw light on both these excavations and on the characteristics of ancient Malaka. This activity will coincide with the publication of the report on the archaeological research in the MPM subsoil.

PUBLICATIONS

The Picassos of Antibes

Picasso. The Female Figure

Memoria. Estudio arqueológico en el subsuelo del Museo Picasso Málaga.

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Nuestro Picasso. Su obra, su vida.

Educational exhibition

Summer-Autumn 2006

With the aim of providing Andalusian audiences with the basic keys to understanding Picasso’s works, the Museo Picasso Málaga presents the educational exhibition Nuestro Picasso. Su obra, su vida. Travelling around various centres in the region, the show will illustrate the artist’s life in a very direct and, above all, visual way, with particular emphasis on the years of his childhood and youth that Picasso spent in Spain.

Through reproductions of his works and documentary photographs, the show takes visitors on a journey through Picasso’s life and experience, with special emphasis on the more human side. Nuestro Picasso. Su obra, su vida seeks to bring all audiences, but particularly students and schoolchildren from Andalusia, to a closer understanding of the great master’s life and work.

The exhibition curator is the educator Philip Yenawine, adviser of the MPM Educational Department. He created Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), the method used by the members of this department.

I see, I see. What do you see? Family notebooks

2006

Available from the MPM ticket office throughout the coming year, these family notebooks will be designed to enable parents and children to enjoy a different, entertaining and instructive visit to the Museo Picasso Málaga. The questions and activities proposed in them, based on Visual Thinking Strategies, will help children to discover Picasso’s work for themselves, stimulating and enhancing their interest, attention and observation as well as encouraging them to enjoy the pleasure of sharing their own impressions with others.

I see, I see. What do you see? is the title of this initiative, which proposes a new way of visiting the MPM, turning it, for children, into a great source of enjoyment and, for parents, into a way of stimulating their children’s imaginations and playing a role in their learning processes.

From the Classroom to the Museum. Guided tours for pupils and teachers

January-December 2006

The MPM Education Department offers schoolchildren an interactive journey through the museum, a tour which marks the beginning of a process of discovery and investigation. This activity is aimed at primary, secondary and baccalaureate schools, and tours are adapted to the different educational levels. Teachers are provided with educational dossiers.

From Tuesday to Friday, from 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.

Visit-Workshops for Schools

For schoolchildren and teachers

January-December 2006

Having visited the exhibition rooms, the children go to the studio, where they become artists for a day. In this activity, both manual and mental work is important, as the children explore different materials and create their own works before going on to reflect on the whole process.

In view of the huge response to this activity, the Education Department will increase the number of workshops to meet growing demand from schools. From next year, moreover, workshops will also be available for infant schools, as well as primary schools, as at present.

Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 10.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and from 11.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.

Cuéntame lo que ves. Visits for families

January-December 2006

A dialogue about Picasso’s work between children and parents, moderated by MPM educators.

Every Saturday at 12.00 p.m.

Summer Workshops

July 2006

Continuing with the idea of workshops for schools, adding the possibility of working for several consecutive days, the MPM offers children the opportunity to discover Picasso’s surprising works during their summer holidays.

Guided Tours for Persons with Disabilities

January-December 2006

Tours for visitors with mental disabilities

(Fridays, at 10.00 a.m.)

Tours with sign language interpretation

(First Tuesday of every month, at 6.00 p.m.)

Tours for the blind

(Last Tuesday of every month, at 6.00 p.m.)

Picasso: en clave de autor

Autumn 2006

Picasso: en clave de autor is a season of guided tours given by leading figures from Malagan cultural life. Taking different routes through the MPM collection, these artists and professionals reveal their own particular visions of Picasso’s works, formulated from the privileged position of lives devoted to the arts. This is, then, an opportunity to see and hear a range of enriching interpretations of Picasso’s work.

Courses for Teachers

Spring 2006

The MPM Education Department invites primary school teachers to learn about and practice Visual Thought Strategies so that they can put these strategies into practice with their own pupils. This activity is organized in cooperation with Malaga Teacher Training Centre.

Courses for Tourist Guides

February 2006

In many cases, tourist guides are those who introduce the MPM to visitors to our city. For this reason, the MPM seeks to keep guides abreast of changes in the way the collection is arranged, and of temporary exhibitions. Tourist guides are also invited to learn about Visual Thinking Strategies, the method used by MPM educators when they give guided tours. This activity is organized in cooperation with the Asociación Profesional de Informadores Turísticos, Guidesur and Investur.

Conociendo la Colección

January-December 2006

Guided visits to the MPM Collection

Tuesdays and Saturdays at 6.00 and 7.00 pm

Charlas en el Museo

January-December 2006

About temporary exhibitions or particular subjects.

Thursdays at 6 pm

Guided Tours for Adults from the Province of Málaga

January-December 2006

Under the sponsorship of the Diputación Provincial de Málaga, the MPM Education Department offers free guided tours of the museum to groups of adults in the province of Málaga, to enable the inhabitants of the province to become more acquainted with Picasso’s work.