 |
Self
portrait Late 1901, Paris Oil on Canvas 81 x 60 cm
Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979 MP4 Succession Picasso
2008
|
 |
| Portrait of
Marie-Therese 6 January 1937, paris oil on Canvas
100 x 81 cm Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979 MP159
Succession piccaso 2008 |
|
An exceptional selection of the works of Pablo Picasso, spanning
all periods and styles in the career of the 20th century’s
signature artist, will be presented in Abu Dhabi, the capital of
the United Arab Emirates, this summer in the first major Picasso
exhibition ever mounted in the Middle East.
Running from May 27 - September 4, the retrospective Picasso Abu
Dhabi, Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris will
be shown in Gallery One of Emirates Palace under the patronage
of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown
Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE
Armed Forces.
The exhibition is drawn exclusively from the singularly
important holdings of the Musée National Picasso, Paris, which
came directly from the artist’s studios. A total of 183 works
will be shown— including paintings, sculptures and works on
paper—beginning with Picasso’s Blue Period Self-Portrait of 1901
and concluding with Portrait of the Young Painter (1972), made
only months before his death.
Picasso Abu Dhabi, Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso,
Paris is an international touring exhibition, which will visit
nine nations, with Abu Dhabi being the second venue after the
Madrid debut. The exhibition is being presented in Abu Dhabi by
Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the emirate’s
leading cultural and tourism asset developer, and Mubadala, a
wholly-owned investment and business development company of the
Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi .
An exhibition feature exclusive to Abu Dhabi will be the
inclusion of 40 drawings, prints and illuminated manuscripts
that reveal, for the first time, Picasso’s development of a
calligraphic poetry on the border between text and image. These
40 works are reminiscent of the Arab cultural influences that
Picasso absorbed during his youth in Málaga.
“We are grateful to the Musee National Picasso Paris for its
willingness to ensure that the Abu Dhabi exhibition includes
works which will be exclusive to the UAE capital – a distinction
which will be savored, I am sure, by all who visit,” said His
Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of TDIC,
Abu Dhabi Tourism Autority (ADTA) and the Abu Dhabi Authority
for Culture & Heritage (ADACH). “We also appreciate the fact
that Abu Dhabi will be the second destination on the
exhibition’s international tour, coming only after the great
Reina Sofía museum in Madrid, which, as the national museum of
modern art in Picasso’s homeland, is a very appropriate launch
venue.”
The staging of the exhibition forms another component of a
wide-reaching arts education programme being undertaken by Abu
Dhabi ahead of the opening in the Arabian Gulf emirate of the
world’s single largest concentration of premier cultural
institutions. Unprecedented in scale and scope, these facilities
include the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, the Guggenheim Abu
Dhabi Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi universal museum, a
performing arts centre and a maritime museum. All have been
designed by international architectural luminaries including
Lord Norman Foster for the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, Frank
Gehry for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, Jean Nouvel for the
Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zaha Hadid for the performing arts centre and
Tadao Ando for the maritime museum.
|
 |
 |
|
Jacqueline with crossed hands 3June 1954, Vallauris Oil on
Canvas 116 x 88.5 cm Dation Jacqueline Piccasso, 1990 MP
1990 26 Succession Piccasso 2008 |
Portrait of Dora Maar 1937, Paris Oil on Canas 92 x 65 cm
Dation Pablo Piccasso, 1979 MP 158 Succession Picasso 2008 |
These institutions will be built in the Cultural District of
Saadiyat Island – a 27 square kilometre island offshore Abu
Dhabi city which is being transformed by TDIC into a world class
cultural, leisure and residential destination – and will be
phased in from 2012-13.
“Our exhibition programme is preparing an audience in advance of
the opening of the Cultural District and is part of an
educational initiative aimed at nurturing a local and regional
awareness of arts appreciation,” said Sheikh Sultan. “It also
lives up to our desire to deliver unique and compelling cultural
experiences for visitors and residents, to establish a desired
tone of sophistication and quality that defines our long-term
ambition of becoming a global cultural hub which will bridge all
nationalities and creeds.”
 |
|
portrait of olga in an
armchair Spring 1918, Montrouge Oil on Canvas 130 x
88.8 cm Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979 MP55 Succession
Picasso 2008 |
|
Picasso Abu Dhabi, Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso,
Paris has been curated by Anne Baldassari, Director of the Musée
National Picasso, and features solid educational elements. The
exhibition layout includes an audio visual room which utilizes
film, photographic and audio collateral from the museum’s
incomparable Picasso Archives and there will also be a bespoke
audio guide aimed at giving visitors a rich and illuminating
context for the artworks on view. The exhibition catalogue is
the first Arabic publication to present the collection of the
Musée National Picasso, Paris. Rounding out the exhibition will
be a Picasso discussion panel and a full programme of
educational activities, including a journal published especially
for children.
“This historic exhibition represents the beginning of a
partnership between the Musée National Picasso and Abu Dhabi,”
stated Baldassari. “The exceptional understanding enjoyed by our
two teams while organizing this large and complex exhibition
allows us to foresee a successful future, as we develop our
institutional, artistic and scholarly relationships over the
next decade.”
Picasso Abu Dhabi, Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso,
Paris represents another cultural “first” for Abu Dhabi, which
this year has supported and hosted the staging of the Arabian
Gulf’s first Arabic performance of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni
and presented the Middle East’s first exhibition of The Arts of
Islam: Treasures of the Nasser D. Khalili Collection,’ which
featured 500 pieces, some on show for the first time anywhere.
More than 61,000 visitors visited The Arts of Islam during its
three-month run at Gallery One.
“The success of our cultural programme is made possible by our
strategy of working with partners that have ‘best-of-breed’
expertise,” said Sheikh Sultan. “This partnership approach
demonstrates, quite clearly, our belief in world-class
collaboration – a strategy which now embraces the Musée National
Picasso, Paris. “I anticipate this unique exhibition will be the
source of much comment and debate within UAE shores and I look
forward to this dialogue as a means of advancing our regional
artistic environment.”
|
