Spain and France present the programme of activities to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Picasso's death

The 1973-2023 Picasso Celebration was announced at the 26th Franco-Spanish Summit on 15 March 2021 in Montauban by the President of the French Republic and the President of the Government of Spain.

The Spanish and French governments have developed a joint programme that will include 42 exhibition projects, two academic congresses and events to be held mainly in Europe and North America.

The Minister for Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, has vindicated Picasso's artistic legacy and the validity of his work. "If there is an artist who defines the 20th century, who represents it with all its cruelty, its violence, its passion, its excesses and its contradictions, it is, without a doubt, Pablo Picasso", he said.

In the room of the Reina Sofía Museum that houses the Guernica, the minister highlighted the celebration of Picasso Year: "I am sure that it will allow us to again enjoy an art that is always alive; or perhaps for the first time. It will also allow us to look at him from a contemporary perspective, helping us to understand an artist who is still alive 50 years after his death through today's eyes".

For her part, the French Minister for Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, considers that "Picasso's work continues to exert a real fascination throughout the world, abundant, inventive and often radical. For its artistic strength, of course. But also for its political strength. It never ceases to be reread, revisited and reinterpreted. This formidable posterity, this dual culture and this work, which is still so relevant today, is what the 1973-2023 Picasso Celebration aims to explore, question and share with a new generation born in the 21st century, and to enable them to discover and understand it in the light of our times".

The extensive programme will begin next October, with temporary exhibitions on the figure of the painter that will take place in different museums around the country, and will continue throughout 2023, the year in which the anniversary will be commemorated, when 50 years would have passed since Picasso's death. He died in the French town of Mougins on 8 April 1973. This date marks the celebration of his work and artistic heritage in Spain and France, as well as internationally.

Forty-two exhibitions so far

Some fifty activities are planned in different countries. Two congresses and 42 exhibitions have been scheduled so far: Sixteen in Spain, twelve in France, seven in the United States, two in Germany, two in Switzerland, one in the Principality of Monaco, one in Romania and one in Belgium.

The official programme in Spain will be held at Casa de Velázquez, Fundació Joan Miró, Fundación MAPFRE, La Casa Encendida, Museo Casa Natal Picasso, Museo de Belas Artes da Coruña, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo Nacional del Prado, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo Picasso de Málaga, Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, Museu Picasso Barcelona and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.

In France, exhibitions will be held at the Musée de Montmartre, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Musée de l'Homme-Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Musée Picasso (Antibes), Musée Magnelli, Musée de la céramique-Vallauris, Musée Goya; Musée d'art hispanique (Castres); Collection Lambert (Avignon); Musée National Picasso-Paris; Musée du Luxembourg (Paris); Petit Palais and Centre Pompidou.

Two academic conferences

In addition, two academic conferences will also be organised; essential meeting points for scientific exchanges between researchers and experts on the artist's work and an opportunity to produce a historiographical study of Picasso's oeuvre.

One of the conferences will take place at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid this autumn, followed by a major international symposium to be held in Paris on 6-8 December 2023 at UNESCO's head office.

The Madrid conference will open the reflection from the context of the first avant-garde Picasso, while the Paris conference will serve as a meeting point for all the venues and agents involved in the Celebration (museums, research centres and researchers) around the theme 'Picasso in the 21st century: historiographical and cultural issues', opening up to the participation of art historians, curators of exhibitions recognised in the field of Picasso, artists, writers and collectors.

A dissemination and educational programme will also be developed in close collaboration with the regional governments of Malaga, A Coruña, Madrid and Barcelona, cities with special links to the artist's life.

Together, these events will provide a historiographical overview of the approaches that make up the richness of Picasso's unique oeuvre, while at the same time the artist

is discovered, understood and questioned by a new generation of audiences, including pupils, students, cultural professionals and historians. It is an opportunity to rethink a larger body of work and the artist's relationship with his contemporaries, from Madrid to Paris, from Manhattan to Bucharest, from Brooklyn to Luxembourg.

The Executive Committee of the National Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, chaired by Carlos Alberdi, is a space for collaboration between ministerial departments, public and private entities, as well as individuals related to Picasso's work.

Spain-France Bi-national Committee

The French and Spanish governments agreed to work together on a programme of international scope through this bi-national committee that brings together the cultural and diplomatic administrations of the two countries. In close collaboration with the Musée National Picasso-Paris, whose generosity has facilitated the wide dissemination of the artist's works, the bi-national committee coordinates the joint actions of the French and Spanish Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs.

The official programme of the 1973-2023 Picasso Celebration reflects the validity of the artist's work, delving into previously unpublished aspects of his oeuvre.

This bi-national committee vindicates the career of an essentially European artist who - from a profound knowledge of the heritage and principles of Europe's cultural tradition - designed such universal symbols as Guernica, today a collective emblem in the defence of human rights.

For their part, Telefónica are participating in the celebrations in Spain as a collaborating company.

1973-2023 Picasso Celebration Programme

Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Picasso - El Greco 11.06.2022 - 25.09.2022

Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, Spain

Julio González, Pablo Picasso and the dematerialisation of sculpture 23.09.2022 - 08.01.2023

Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster, Germany

Julio González, Pablo Picasso and the dematerialisation of sculpture 23.09.2022 - 08.01.2023

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain Picasso / Chanel

11.10.2022 - 15.01.2023

Musée de Montmartre, Paris, France

Fernande Olivier and Pablo Picasso, in the intimacy of the Bateau-Lavoir 14.10.2022 - 19.02.2023

Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique

Picasso and Abstraction 14.10.2022 - 12.02.2023

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Cubism and the tradition of trompe-l'oeil 20.10.2022 - 22.01.2023

Museu Picasso Barcelona, Spain

Spain Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler 18.11.2022 - 19.03.2023

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France

Picasso/Poussin/Bacanales 26.11.2022 - 05.03.2023

Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland

Pablo Picasso at the Fondation Beyeler Early 2023

Musée de l'Homme-Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, France

Picasso and Prehistory 08.02.2023 - 12.06.2023

The Mint Museum, Charlotte, USA.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds 11.02.2023 - 21.05.2023

Musée national Picasso-Paris, France

Celebration Picasso, the collection takes colour! Under the artistic direction of Paul Smith

07.03.2023 - 06.08.2023

Museo de Belas Artes da Coruña, A Coruña

Spain Picasso white in blue memory 23.03.2023 - 23.06.2023

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain

Picasso. Masterpieces from the Nahmad Collection 29.03.2023 - 02.07.2023

Musée Picasso, Antibes, France

Picasso 1969-1972: The end of the beginning 08.04.2023 - 25.06.2023

Musée Magnelli, Musée de la céramique-Vallauris, France

Forms and metamorphosis: Picasso's ceramic creation 06.05.2023 - 30.10.2023

Museo Picasso Malaga, Spain

Picasso: Matter and Body 08.05.2023 - 10.09.2023

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA.

Young Picasso in Paris 12.05.2023 - 07.08.2023

La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain

The Last Picasso 1963 - 1972, 19.05.2023 - 17.09.2023

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, USA

Title to be confirmed, 02.06.2023 - 24.09.2023

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Picasso - El Greco 13.06.2023 -17.09.2023

Museo Casa Natal Picasso, Malaga, Spain

The Ages of Pablo 21.06.2023 - 01.10.2023

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds 24.06.2023 - 11.10.2023

Musée Goya. Musée d'art hispanique, Castres, France

Goya in the eyes of Picasso 30.06.2023 -01.10.2023

Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, Spain

"But is it possible that they could have done this before me? Picasso and Spanish ceramics June - September 2023

Collection Lambert, Avignon, France

Picasso at the Lambert Collection in Avignon 50 years later 13.07.2023 - 15.10.2023

Hispanic Society of America, New York, USA.

Picasso and La Celestina, Autumn 2023

Casa de Velázquez, Madrid, Spain

Picasso vs. Velázquez - September- November 2023

Musée national Picasso-Paris, France

It's up to you, precious. Sophie Calle at the Musée Picasso 12.09.2023-28.01.2024

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Picasso's paintings for Hamilton Easter Field 12.09.2023 - 14.01.2024

Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France

Gertrude Stein and Picasso. The invention of language 13.09.2023 - 21.01.2024

Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, Germany

Pablo Picasso - Max Beckmann 17.09.2023 - 07.01.2024

Palais princier de Monaco, Principality of Monaco

Modernity and Classicism 19.09.2023 - 15.10.2023

MARe, Bucharest, Romania

The Picasso effect 26.09.2023 - 08.01.2023

Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, Spain

Picasso: Matter and Body 29.09.2023 - 14.01.2024

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain

Picasso. The Sacred and the Profane 02.10.2023 - 14.01.2024

Museo Picasso Malaga, Spain

The echo of Picasso 02.10.2023 - 24.03.2024

Petit Palais, Paris, France

Paris of the moderns 1905 - 1925 17.10.2023 - 28.04.2024

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

Picasso. 2023 drawings 18.10.2023 - 22.01.2024

Museu Picasso Barcelona / Fundació Joan Miró, Spain

Miró - Picasso 19.10.2023 - 25.02.2024

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain

Picasso 1906: The Great Transformation 14.11.2023 - 04.03.2024

Non official translation