Book Description
Pablo Picasso?s implacable intention to constantly reinvent his art and take it beyond the limits of his own time expressed itself in both his non-conformist, innovative spirit and his desire to devour and reinterpret works of the past. The exhibition Picasso. The Sacred and the Profane focuses on the audacity and originality with which the artist approached both the classical world and themes from the Judeo-Christian tradition, revealing his ability to incorporate elements and themes from earlier art into his own output and to reflect on the ultimate essence of painting. At times traumatic and existential and at others dynamic and optimistic, Picasso looked at the art of the past and showed us new ways of interpreting history, while with his farsighted vision he continues to offer us fundamental clues to the uncertain contemporary world.0This publication, capturing and published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title, includes around 30 paintings: the works by Picasso from the museum?s collection and various loans from the Musée national Picasso-Paris and other collections and institutions will establish dialogues with paintings by El Greco, Rubens, Zurbarán, Van der Hamen, Delacroix and Goya. The first section shows how Picasso assimilated the tradition of portraiture and religious imagery, transforming it into a veritable catalogue of promiscuous and profane characters. The second section looks at more intimate, domestic subjects with still lifes and mother and child compositions. A third part contrasts the traditional theme of the Passion with scenes of violence and sacrifice through Crucifixions, bullfights and the dramatic women depicted by the artist in the 1930s.00Exhibition: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional, Madrid, Spain (04.10.2023-14.01.2024).
