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The various exhibition rooms in the Palacio de Buenavista examine significant aspects of Pablo Picasso’s artistic legacy based on a thematic and chronological arrangement of the artist’s extensive oeuvre: his historical importance as the creator of Cubism; his invention of synthetic images bringing together many formal but also conceptual perspectives; his approach to classical genres in the history of painting, such as portraiture, still life, landscape, and the nude; his deep-seated relationship with Old Masters characterised by respect, inspiration, and antagonism; and his extraordinary ability to discover procedures and invent innovative supports for the history of visual forms.

The Collection surveys nearly eight decades of Pablo Picasso’s work. It conveys the cons-cientiousness and creativity of an artist of key importance to understanding the history of Western art and embodies the wish to offerhis native city some of the fruits of his talent.

Cover (detail) WOMAN WITH RAISED ARMS Paris, 1936 Museo Picasso Málaga.Gift of Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Inside (detail) JACQUELINE SEATED Paris, 8 October 1954 Museo Picasso MálagaGift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso

© Of the texts: their authors

© Sucesión Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2020

© Images: © FABA Photo: Eric Baudouin

/ © FABA Photo: Hugard & Vanoverschelde

Photography / © FABA Photo: Marc Domage

/ © Museo Picasso Málaga. Photo: Marc Domage

/ © Museo Picasso Málaga. Photo: Rafael Lobato

Palacio de Buenavista C/ San Agustín, 8. 29015 Málaga, España

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Head of a BullParis, 1942Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte. On temporary loan to the Museo Picasso Málaga

The Three Graces embody the concept of beauty, love, and fertility, as well as generosity and friendship. According to Greek mythology, the Graces had the power to endow human beings with the genius required for artistic creation. Painted in 1923, this work reflects Picasso’s rethinking of classical iconography, which lasted until the mid-1920s. Characterised by its monumental format and firm but delicate brushstrokes, the painting accentuates the figures through

This canvas is one of a series of portraits of Jacqueline painted by Picasso in the rue des Grands-Agustins in Paris. These works re-flect the initial impact of Jacqueline as a source of inspiration. When depicting the image of a new woman in his life, Picasso always chose to portray the features that for him conveyed both her physical appear- ance and her personality. This wasalso his approach when document-ing disappointment and emotional rupture in his work. Here Picasso continues to pursue his interest in deconstructing the visual and

JaCQuelINe SeatedParis, 8 October 1954 Museo Picasso Málaga.Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso

This type of large circular plate with a convex centre, based on a Mozarabic model, is known in France as a plat espagnol or Spanish plate. Picasso had it made in 1957 at the Madoura Pottery in Vallauris. When creating his ceramics, the artist was inspired by classical fables and objects. The mythological figure of the faun was a fre-quent motif in his pottery for more than a decade, appearing on plates, bowls, vessels, tiles, and small statues. Fauns inhabited the same classical

Back in Paris following a long stay in Antibes, Picasso continued to depict the same subjects. An example is sea urchins—shown here in a small basket—which were sold on stalls in the village and eaten in local restaurants. Picasso usually painted three sea urchins viewed either from the front, with circular or square outlines, or from the side. The fact they are shown open seems to suggest sexual and religious symbolism. The skull, a common motif in Picasso’s works from the end of the Second World War onwards, is normally

StIll lIfe wItH Skull aNd tHree Sea urCHINSParis, 6 January 1947Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso

SuSaNNa aNd tHe elderSNice, summer 1955Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte. On temporary loan to the Museo Picasso Málaga

Susanna and the Elders is an Old Testament scene from which many painters have drawn, especially the Italian Tintoretto, whom Picasso studied so closely. It tells of

leS demoISelleS d’avIgNoNBy Jacqueline Dürrbach(after the original painting by Pablo Picasso, 1907), Cavalaire-sur-Mer, 1958Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte, Madrid. On temporary loan to the Museo Picasso Málaga

This wool tapestry, based on Picasso’s legendary painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), was woven in the studio of J. Delabaume-Dürrbach, who had previously used other works by the artist as models, such as Harlequin (1920) and Guernica (1937). It hung in Picasso’s La Californie studio in southern France and

glaSS of aBSINtHeParis, spring 1914Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso

para el Arte, Madrid. On temporary loan

to the Museo Picasso Málaga

This bull’s head was created by joining together the handlebars and seat of a bicycle. The sculpture is an outstanding example of Picasso’s ability to transform two everyday found objects, recombining andsoldering them to create a visual poem; a bull’s head that is at once dramatic and comical. Both objects, liberated from their intended function, remain perfectly recognisable although they now exist in an ambiguous equilibrium. For Picasso, ambivalence and the ‘double life’ of found objects and

Picasso originally modelled this genuinely Cubist sculp-ture in wax, incorporating a real spoon used for drinking absinthe. He subsequently produced an edition of six glasses in bronze painted in different colours. To heighten the illusion of transparency, Picasso divided the glassinto different parts to hint at its contents. Absinthe was a very popular drink in France in early 20th-century bohemian circles.

THE COLLECTIONTHROUGH TEN ARTWORKS

maN, womaN aNd CHIldMougins, 22 May 1972Museo Picasso Málaga.Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso

The man, woman, and childin this painting are related to the numerous pictures of musketeers that appear in Picasso’s extensive late output, which also returns to long-standing themes in his work such as masculinity and fatherhood. The regular lines reproduce the ridges in the corrugated cardboard which he used for his collages while the pierced holes in the figures relate to the artist’s sculpture. The woman’s curious hat recalls the biomorphic compositions of Picasso’s ‘bone style’,

the artist explained to Brassaï that it was made after a common postcard: ‘Many of my visitors find it horrible and talk of sacrilege. They don’t recognise my colours. But that’s precisely what appeals to me. The colours of the painting were already completely different on the reproduction.’

the use of an empty background and the importance given to light by means of the combination of blacks and whites.

images were ways of positioning himself in relation to the precepts of painting as a mere exercise of imitation of reality.

This bitter-tasting and highly alcoholic beverage was prepared by pouring it over a sugar cube placed on the perforated spoon and adding cold water. It was also a common motif in works by Manet, Cézanne, and Toulouse-Lautrec, artists who influenced Picasso.

associated with death. Here, however, it contrasts with the delicacies of the sea and worldly pleasures.

a beautiful woman—the wife of Joachim, a rich and influential Jew in exile in Babylon—whois noticed and desired by two elders appointed as judges. They conspire to catch Susanna unaware when she is alone and try to take advantage of her with threats.

womaN wItH raISed armSParis, 1936 Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Bernard Ruiz-Picasso

In the early summer of 1936, Picasso met the photographer Dora Maar, who soon became another muse and companion.She is clearly the inspiration for the figure in Woman with Raised Arms, a painting with a markedly ornamental character. Her short dark hair spreads outbehind her head as if she were lying down with the artist painting her from above. At this time theGreat Depression in the United States was ravaging the rural world, while in Germany the exhibition Degenerate Art, which emphatically condemned modern

art, was about to open. The following year Picasso painted Guernica (1937).

world as the centaurs and flautists which Picasso had so often depicted in earlier sculptures and prints. In the 20th century many other artists became interested in ceramics, but Picasso focused on the formal and conceptual characteristics intrinsic to the medium.

present in his works between the late 1920s and his Surrealist phase. This oil on canvas was among the works exhibited at the Palais des Papes in Avignon a few weeks after Picasso’s death on 8 April 1973.

tactile experience, and the depth expressed through the background colours confirms that painting is matter as well as image.

tHree graCeSParis, 1923Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte. On temporary loan to the Museo Picasso Málaga

BuSt of a fauNCannes, 2 April 1957Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Bernard Ruiz-Picasso