PICASSO. THE SCULPTURE

The event proposes a unique and original exchange between Picasso’s three-dimensional works and the traditional classical, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures from the collections of the Galleria Borghese, which Picasso probably visited during his trip to Rome in 1917. The exhibition takes into account his first-hand experience of antiquity and Italian art, and rethinks the great themes related to sculpture through time.

There are 56 masterpieces by the master made between 1905 and 1964. In these works, Picasso explores various themes and experiments with different materials. Room after room in a direct comparison, his sculptures engage in an increasingly recognisable and clear dialogue with the works of the Galleria Borghese. Relationships and consonances interweave and inspire a reflection on the evolution of the concept of sculpture, casting a light on similar aesthetic strategies in works that are distant from one another.

The exhibition includes a previously unseen series of photographs of ateliers and videos which place the sculptures in the context and locations where they originated and where the artist experienced them.

In the sculptures by Picasso, the visitor is invited to embark on a journey with no beginning and no end, in line with his idea that “in art there is neither past nor future. Art that is not in the present will never be art”.

The exhibition, Picasso. La scultura [Picasso. The Sculptures], curated by Anna Coliva and Diana Widmaier-Picasso, was conceived by Anna Coliva and is part of the international program Picasso-Méditerranée, initiated by Laurent Le Bon, director of the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

The exhibition is supported by FENDI, the institutional partner of Galleria Borghese.