The exhibition Reflections. Picasso / Koons at the Alhambra will present five works - two by Pablo Picasso and three by Jeff Koons - which are skilfully integrated into the Palace of Charles V and the permanent collection of the Museo de Bellas Artes, establishing a dynamic conversation between past and present. Within the Alhambra the timeless beauty of Picasso and Koons’ works will reveal the continuity and transformation of artistic inspiration, offering visitors a unique perspective on the dialogue between tradition and modernity.

The courtyard of the Palace of Charles V will house the sculpture Three Graces (2016-22) by Jeff Koons, a contemporary work made of polished stainless steel with a transparent coating, which offers a striking contrast and a modern reinterpretation of this classical theme. Next, two works by Picasso are displayed inside the Museo de Bellas Artes: The Three Graces (1923), a personal reflection on this classical canon of beauty, and the striking bronze Head of a Warrior (1933), which together create a narrative context for the examples of Spanish cultural heritage on display in this gallery. Shown alongside them are two works by Jeff Koons from his Gazing Ball series (2014-16), thus fusing the historical and the contemporary.

In this unique exhibition which brings together two giants of 20th- and 21st-century art, each work establishes a direct dialogue with concepts and figures from classical mythology, exploring their symbolic depth and meanings which have endured over the centuries. This exceptional group of five works is in turn complemented by pieces from the museum’s own collection, which spans the period from the late Gothic to the Baroque.

With regard to the exhibition, for Miguel López-Remiro, artistic director of the Museo Picasso Málaga: ‘The 21st-century museum presents itself as an amplified space where art transcends limits and engages in dialogue with multiple contexts, a museum conceived as a public venue and a present and future meeting place. The project Reflections Picasso is part of this vision, aiming to expand the presence of the Museo Picasso Málaga in collaboration with emblematic locations in Andalusia, generating new opportunities for an understanding of the artist’s work. Within this context Reflections. Picasso / Koons at the Alhambra, which launches the project, establishes a vision of the relationship between the work of Pablo Picasso and Jeff Koons in the context of the Palace of Charles V, the collection of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada and the unique setting of the Alhambra, encouraging a profound reflection on the intersection between tradition, avant-garde and contemporaneity.’

Bernard Ruiz-Picasso and Jeff Koons next to Gazing Ball (Standing Woman). Photo: Lucía Rivas © Museo Picasso Málaga

TWO PICASSOS AND THREE KOONS

Over the course of history the Three Graces, an archetype of beauty and harmony, have occupied an ambiguous and fascinating space in the visual arts which has made them a universal symbol. This group of female figures, celebrated in Antiquity for symbolizing the generosity of nature, has inspired artists of different eras and styles for centuries. Picasso and Koons address this allegory in the present exhibition, each offering a highly personal vision that departs from and at the same time pays homage to their classical sources.

In the case of Picasso, the return to Antiquity was an inexhaustible source of inspiration and trios of figures became a recurring motif, including The Three Graces of 1923. Employing his characteristic style, Picasso returned to the monochromatic and grave aura of classical statues, adding a note of introspection that transforms the classical ideal of beauty into something personal and disquieting. For his part, Jeff Koons revisited the theme with a contemporary and technological focus. Inspired by porcelain figures, he transformed the delicacy of this material into the unbreakable shine of his characteristic polished steel. Using a complex technique of direct application of paint onto metal, Koons succeeded in giving his Three Graces a festive appearance that contrasts with the melancholy of Picasso’s figures. From their different perspectives each artist thus proposes a reinterpretation of this mythical image which connects past and present in a continuous renewal of classical symbolism.

Classical mythology is also a source of inspiration both in Head with Helmet by Picasso of 1933 and in Koons’ work Gazing Ball (‘The Intervention of the Sabine Women’ by David) of 2015-16. Picasso’s bronze sculpture is another example of his profound connection with the classical Greek heritage. The work takes the broad, rounded forms of Picasso’s sculptural portraits of his muse Marie-Thérèse Walter as its starting point but goes one step further in terms of experimentation: the use of unusual moulds, such as a tennis ball to create the shape of the eyes, highlights the artist’s ability to transform everyday objects into elements with a powerful expressive charge.

Koons was also inspired by classicism, paying homage to the painting The Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799) by Jacques-Louis David, which represents the moment when the Sabine women, by now settled in Rome, witness the confrontation between their Roman captors and their families of origin, the Sabines. In his reinterpretation Koons introduced a hand-blown, blue glass sphere into the work which transforms the scene into a visual experience: the spheres of Koons’ Gazing Balls series, with their reflective surface and polished form, capture the viewer and their surroundings, making each observer an integral part of the work. A fifth piece, Gazing Ball (Standing Woman) (2014) is another example of Koons’ work that aims to connect ancient and contemporary worlds, inviting viewers to engage with the history of art. The artist borrows the female forms and poses that often represented idealised beauty and femininity.

Bernard Ruiz-Picasso and Jeff Koons in front of Pablo Picasso’s The Three Graces at the exhibition Reflections. Picasso/Koons at the Alhambra. Photo: Lucía Rivas © Museo Picasso Málaga

REFLECTIONS AT THE ALHAMBRA

‘Reflections Picasso’ is a project launched by the Museo Picasso Málaga, the Regional Ministry of Culture and Sport and the FABA with the aim of exhibiting Picasso’s work in emblematic locations in Andalusia. For 2024, the first selected venue for this exhibition is the Alhambra, specifically the Palace of Charles V and the Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada which is housed in that historic architectural complex.

Room 1 of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada, where the works by Picasso and Koons will be shown, constitutes in itself a journey through a crucial moment in the history of art as it displays works from the late Gothic period to the dawn of the Baroque. The artistic density of this space lies not only in the thirty-six works on display or the fourteen artists represented, but also in the richness of styles, periods and concepts that establish dialogues here. By introducing Picasso and Koons’ works into a space already so charged with references and traditions, visitors are invited to a engage in a reflection on the continuity of art and on reinterpretations of the great myths and classical themes.

Reflections. Picasso / Koons at the Alhambra is a project organised by the Museo Picasso Málaga in collaboration with the Almine and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Foundation and the Jeff Koons Studio. The exhibition is curated by Miguel López-Remiro, Artistic Director of the Museo Picasso Málaga, with Ricardo Tenorio, Director of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada. It benefits from the support of the Regional Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Board of Trustees of the Alhambra and Generalife, and the Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada. All these institutions would like to thank Fundación Unicaja for its sponsorship of this project.

PUBLICATION AND ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES

In conjunction with the exhibition the Museo Picasso Málaga has published a 64-page, hardback catalogue (in Spanish and English) with texts by the artist Jeff Koons and the curators Miguel López-Remiro and Ricardo Tenorio, among others, produced and edited by Joachim Pissarro, art historian, theorist, curator, educator, director of the Hunter College Galleries and Bershad Professor of History of Art at Hunter College of the City University of New York, as well as the great-grandson of the artist Camille Pissarro. Through a dialogue with the five works, this fully illustrated catalogue addresses the conceptual and technical analogies between the artists, setting them in the context of the host space, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada and the Palace of Charles V. In the words of Jeff Koons: ‘The relationship and perspective on Picasso informs us about our past and about the parameters of possibility implied by the fact of being human.’

In parallel to the exhibition, it has been scheduled the inaugural lecture with the artist Jeff Koons and Joachim Pissarro, who will engage in a conversation about the influence of Picasso on Koons’ work. It will take place on Tuesday 17 December at 5 pm in the Auditorium of the Alhambra, located in the Palace of Charles V in Granada. Booking to attend in person can be made on the Museo Picasso Málaga’s website, while the event can also be followed live via streaming on the Museo Picasso Málaga’s YouTube page.

From left to right: Miguel López-Remiro, Artistic Director of Museo Picasso Málaga, alongside Jeff Koons, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, and Joachim Pissarro. Photo: Lucía Rivas © Museo Picasso Málaga Photo: Lucía Rivas © Museo Picasso