Meaningful dialogues from three important museum exhibitions now on view in Europe.
1) Pablo Picasso & Paul Smith at Musée National Picasso in Paris.
Picasso Célébration. 1973-2023: an exhibition curated by Cécile Debray and Joanne Snrech, with the art direction of Paul Smith.
A playful, instinctive and unconventional approach to the works of Pablo Picasso, conceived after five years of preparation by leading British fashion designer Paul Smith to shed a new, anti-academic light on personally selected masterpieces from the Museum's permanent collection, and to attract new audiences.
© Arts in the City – Nanterre
© MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS, VOYEZ-VOUS (VINCIANE LEBRUN) AND SUCCESSION PICASSO 2023
© MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS, VOYEZ-VOUS (VINCIANE LEBRUN) AND SUCCESSION PICASSO 2023
© MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS, VOYEZ-VOUS (VINCIANE LEBRUN) AND SUCCESSION PICASSO 2023
2) Georg Baselitz & the Old Masters at Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna
Baselitz. Naked Masters: an exhibition curated by Andreas Zimmermann.
‘Like wallpaper for the Old Masters, that’s what my pictures shall be’ – Georg Baselitz
Born from Baselitz's longstanding interest in the Old Masters (which he got to know as a child at the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden), and particularly in the audacity of Mannerism, the exhibition in Vienna explores the nudity as the elementary condition of humankind through the typical upside-down figures, following a recurring practice in the artist's work.
Baselitz, the curator explains, wanted to integrate himself into the gallery's itinerary, and the juxtapositions between ancient and contemporary correspond to his precise indications.
Baselitz. Naked Masters. Exhibition view (Georg Baselitz, Milioninver, 2010-13 and Hans von Aachen, David and Bathsheba, 1612/15) © KHM-Museumsverband
Baselitz. Naked Masters. Exhibition view (Georg Baselitz, The Reading Girl, 1979 and Tiziano Vecellio, Diana and Callisto, c. 1566) © KHM-Museumsverband
3) Alberto Giacometti & Lucio Fontana at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence
Giacometti e Fontana. La ricerca dell'assoluto: an exhibition curated by Chiara Gatti e Sergio Risaliti.
Two giants of Twentieth Century art, two marvellous obsessions in a parallel journey.
Installation views Giacometti – Fontana. La ricerca dell’assoluto. Ph Serge Domingie.
© Museo Novecento
Installation views Giacometti – Fontana. La ricerca dell’assoluto. Ph Serge Domingie.
© Museo Novecento