Picasso was like a Sun King approached by gallery owners, dealers, photographers, strangers, men and women. All those who were dazzled by his personality and his art and who, in moments of intimacy, in which the genius was relaxed, joking, playing with his wife or children, or in the middle of the creative process, could take photographs to show his most private side. An exhibition at the Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa, in Madrid, shows these images, by the hundreds, from the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, a center created by the express desire and eagerness of the artist himself 60 years ago. The author of Guernica maintained a special relationship with the Catalan capital, where he lived in his youth, between 1895 and April 1904, a fundamental stage in his training. From there he moved to Paris, but in Barcelona he left family and friends. The exhibition is part of the PHotoEspaña festival program and can be seen until July 28. From it we highlight 10 images that summarize the extensive network of contacts and friendships that the artist wove and that helped to spread his work and to know his personality better.
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Picasso's self-portrait in three dimensions
Turned to musician
The first photo of this article shows Pablo Picasso (Malaga, 1881-Mougins, France, 1973) having fun with the bullfighting entrepreneur Paco Muñoz and the antique dealer Affentranger in his business in Arles (France), on March 30, 1959. The image was taken by photographer Lucien Clergue, who had met the genius in 1953 during a bullfight. From that moment they became friends, despite the fact that Picasso was 53 years older than Clergue, who was then only 19. Clergue, born in Arles, also portrayed him in other entertainment prints, such as a flamenco party with the French guitarist Manitas de Plata (Ricardo Baliardo) at the residence where Picasso lived, Notre Dame de Vie, in Mougins; also, on the beach or on the set of the film The Testament of Orpheus (1960), by Jean Cocteau, in which the artist appeared briefly. The film had in the cast with Cocteau himself, Charles Aznavour, Lucía Bosé, Yul Brynner or María Casares, among others.
A sun gift
Picasso in his villa in La Californie (Cannes), on June 3, 1960, with a sun made of palm leaf bought at the Feria de Ramos on the Rambla de Cataluña (Barcelona), which was given to him by the publisher Gustavo Gili and his wife. SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO / VEGAP
Jacqueline Roque took this photo of her husband on June 3, 1960 at La Californie, the villa in Cannes where they lived. Picasso posed with a sun made of palm leaf that had been bought at the Feria de Ramos on the Rambla de Cataluña, in Barcelona, by the publisher Gustau Gili and his wife, Anna Maria Torra. Picasso had created in 1957 for the Gili publishing house (with which he had a relationship since the twenties, when it was directed by Gustau Gili senior) the aquatints of Bullfighting, with which he illustrated the manual that had written about bullfighting in 1796 Pepe Illo, one of the greatest figures of the fight, who lived in the second half of the eighteenth century. The exhibition at the Fernán Gómez also shows images of Picasso and the Gili-Torra couple at the artist's 75th birthday party. In 2014, Barcelona's Picasso Museum acquired the Gustau Gili and Anna Maria Torra Fund, made up of, among other documents, photographs and letters.
With editor Gustau Gili
The publisher Gustau Gili Esteve and Picasso at his house, Notre-Dame-de-Vie, in Mougins, on April 1, 1969.SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO / VEGAP
Here we see the publisher and collector Gustau Gili Esteve with Picasso as he reviews some papers at his home, Notre Dame de Vie, in Mougins, on April 1, 1969. It is a print that shows the close relationship between the artist and the editor, an image that belongs to the Gustau Gili and Anna Maria Torra Fund. Shortly after meeting the Gili-Torra couple, Picasso established a great friendship with them, as well as an important professional bond. After the aforementioned Bullfighting, Picasso also illustrated for this publishing house Picasso. Las meninas y la vida, by Jaume Sabartés; o Life of Manolo told by himself, by Josep Pla.
Photo with friends intervened
Pablo Picasso, with Édouard Pignon, Anna Maria Torra and Madeleine Lacourière, in Vauvenargues, on October 11, 1958. Picasso himself intervened photography. / SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO, VEGAP
This photograph that may seem so modern, was actually intervened by Picasso on an image of October 11, 1958. In it he is seen, from left, with the painter Édouard Pignon, Anna Maria Torra, wife of the publisher Gustau Gili, and Madeleine Lacourière, collaborator and wife of the engraver Roger Lacourière. The image was taken in the castle of Vauvenargues, which Picasso had acquired and signed by the artist himself. It is a print that belonged to the family album of Gustau Gili and Anna Maria Torra. The exhibition emphasizes Picasso's relationships with those who also became clients and disseminators of his work.
Filming for a friend
Photographer Lucien Clergue films Picasso in the living room of his villa, Notre-Dame-de-Vie, during the filming of the documentary 'Picasso, war, love and peace', on October 11, 1969.ATELIER LUCIEN CLERGUE / SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO, VEGAP
Photographer Lucien Clergue films Picasso during the filming of the documentary Picasso, war, love and peace, on October 11, 1969. Clergue, who became a great friend of the artist, paid him a posthumous graphic tribute in the villa of Notre Dame de Vie in September 1978, four and a half years after the death of the painter and sculptor, in a series in which Jacqueline Roque, second wife of the artist, is seen with a sad countenance in the workshop where he worked. The exhibition at the Fernán Gómez, dependent on the Area of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Madrid City Council, is curated by Emmanuel Guigon, director of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and Sílvia Domènech, head of the Knowledge and Research Center of this same space.
Picasso and the taxi driver
Picasso chats with a taxi driver at Nice airport, August 20, 1965.ATELIER LUCIEN CLERGUE / SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO, VEGAP
One of the images of the exhibition Picasso in photo. Archives of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, it is this one in which he is seen chatting with a taxi driver at Nice airport, a closeness that allowed friends like the one who took the snapshot, Lucien Clergue. The exhibition tells how Picasso donated his youth work for the creation of this Catalan museum, including iconic pieces such as Harlequin, from 1917. You can also see the report on the transfer in boxes of Picasso's works from the family home in Barcelona to the museum, including the series on Las Meninas. Likewise, on one of the walls of the exhibition is reproduced the series of 994 photos in small format that Picasso had made as an inventory of all the works that were in his home.
Waiting for inspiration
Picasso working on 'La Tauromaquia', in his villa in Cannes, in 1957, in an image taken by photographer David Douglas Duncan.DAVID DOUGLAS DUNCAN ARCHIVE / SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO, VEGAP
The American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan, who worked for Life magazine, was another of the lucky ones who had access to the most intimate Picasso and was able to give graphic testimony of his career and life. After a first contact in 1956, in the villa in Cannes of the artist, it was Jacqueline, his wife, who invited him to take private photos, which happened on different occasions throughout the rest of Picasso's life. The photographer described Picasso, "with an unalterable face", during the making of Bullfighting, as seen in this image. "His paintings began with a stroke," added who eventually became a friend of the artist. In fact, the final part of the exhibition corresponds to images by Douglas Duncan, who before his photos of Picasso, was known for his work as a war reporter. As curator Emmanuel Guigon explains, the exhibition is "an approach to the figure of Picasso, man and artist".
Expectation in Cannes
Pablo Picasso, from behind, portrayed by several photographers in Cannes, in 1957.DAVID DOUGLAS DUNCAN ARCHIVE / PABLO PICASSO SUCCESSION, VEGAP
While half a dozen photographers try to get a good image of Picasso in Cannes, in 1957, his friend David Douglas Duncan took one that shows the expectation generated by the artist in his wake. Douglas Duncan portrayed the artist in his privacy, with famous photos, such as Picasso in the bathtub of his house, or disguised in a clown mask, playing with his dog, Lump; or with his son, Claude, this one with a cowboy hat that had been given to the artist by the actor Gary Cooper.
Dancing with Jacqueline
Picasso and his wife Jacqueline Roque have fun rehearsing a few ballet steps in front of the play 'Bathers in La Garoupe' at La Californie, the artist's villa in Cannes, in the summer of 1957.DAVID DOUGLAS DUNCAN ARCHIVE / SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO, VEGAP
One of Picasso's best-known images is this one taken by David Douglas Duncan in the summer of 1957 at the artist's villa in Cannes. In it he is with his wife, Jacqueline, having fun, rehearsing a few ballet steps. The photojournalist also made one of the most famous portraits, a close-up of Picasso's gaze. The exhibition that can be seen in Madrid, framed in the celebrations of the Picasso year for the 50th anniversary of his death, includes family albums, press images, inventories of works, photobooks, audiovisuals, among other formats. David Douglas Duncan, who died in France in 2018, had donated in 2013 the photographic archive about his friend to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.
Creative process
David Douglas Duncan photographed Picasso working in the villa where he lived, La Californie, in Cannes, in July 1957.DAVID DOUGLAS DUNCAN ARCHIVE / SUCCESSION PABLO PICASSO, VEGAP
The exhibition also reviews in images his relationship with his personal secretary and friend, Jaume Sabartés, the publishers Joan and Miquel Gaspar or the notary Raimon Noguera. In this image, Picasso, hands to work, works at his home La Californie, in Cannes, in July 1957, in one of the sessions photographed by David Douglas Duncan. The photojournalist also showed him signing his works destined to be sold by his gallerist, which made him joke about what it meant to get rid of them: "I have cut the umbilical cord. I have signed them. Now they are ready for burial."
Information about the exhibition
Picasso in photo. Archives of the Museu Picasso de Barcelona, until July 28.
Free admission. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 21.00.
75% discount
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