The MNAC explores the relationship between Picasso and Romanesque art
A new exhibition featuring twenty Picasso works brought from Paris
Brilliant and multifaceted, Pablo Picasso looked to many sources of influence when forging his own unique style. Some are well, known such as African art, but others much less so. And that’s the case of the masterworks of Catalan Romanesque art, known as the Catalan primitives. In an attempt to explore this facet of Picasso’s work, the MNAC – Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya will be hosting the exhibition Romanesque Picasso from 17 November.
The exhibition, which is organised together with the Musée Picasso de París, features 20 works which will be exhibited at MNAC, next to the Romanesque artworks. Viewed side by side, these piece reveal affinities such as the recurring theme of crucifixion and the portrayal of figures such as the Virgin and skeletons.
In order t explain this influence, the exhibition, which is curated Juan José Lahuerta and Emilia Philippot, mention two key moments. On one hand, the spring of 1906, when Picasso and Fernande Olivier stayed for two and a half months in the Pyrenean village of Gósol. There, Picasso was struck by the Romanesque art he saw, particularly the Virgin of Gósol, a 12th century woodcut in the church of Santa Maria in the village castle, which currently resides in the MNAC. The other important event was the visit that Picasso paid in 1934, when he was already an outstanding figure in the international art world, to the Romanesque art collections of the Museum of Art of Catalonia, shortly before its official opening in November of the same year in Palau Nacional building on Montjuïc, where it still resides to this day, closing the circle with the exhibition Romanesque Picasso.
Romanesque Picasso
When: 17 November – 26 February
Where: MNAC – Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Palau Nacional. Parc de Montjuïc)
Price: €12
More information is available here