Menu

Picasso

The Mediterranean Years (1945–1962)

June 4–August 28, 2010
Britannia Street, London

Installation view  Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation view

Artwork © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

Installation video Play Button

Installation video

Works Exhibited

Pablo Picasso, Chouette sur une chaise, January 15, 1947 Oil on canvas, 39 ¼ × 32 inches (100 × 81 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Chouette sur une chaise, January 15, 1947

Oil on canvas, 39 ¼ × 32 inches (100 × 81 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Tête à la coiffe, April 17, 1947 Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ × 23 ½ inches (73 × 60 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Tête à la coiffe, April 17, 1947

Oil on canvas, 28 ¾ × 23 ½ inches (73 × 60 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme dans un fauteuil, March 6, 1949 Oil on canvas, 25 ½ × 21 ¼ inches (65 × 54 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme dans un fauteuil, March 6, 1949

Oil on canvas, 25 ½ × 21 ¼ inches (65 × 54 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, La femme enceinte I, 1950 Bronze, 41 × 8 ¾ × 12 ½ inches (104 × 22 × 32 cm), edition of 6© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, La femme enceinte I, 1950

Bronze, 41 × 8 ¾ × 12 ½ inches (104 × 22 × 32 cm), edition of 6
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Paysage à Vallauris, la nuit, September 7, 1952 Oil on canvas, 20 ¼ × 26 ¼ inches (51.2 × 66.6 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Paysage à Vallauris, la nuit, September 7, 1952

Oil on canvas, 20 ¼ × 26 ¼ inches (51.2 × 66.6 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Centaure, 1952 Terracotta, with a green background, 17 × 17 × 1 ½ inches (43 × 43 × 4 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Centaure, 1952

Terracotta, with a green background, 17 × 17 × 1 ½ inches (43 × 43 × 4 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Paloma debout, April 16, 1954 Oil on canvas, 39 ½ × 31 ¾ inches (100 × 81 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Paloma debout, April 16, 1954

Oil on canvas, 39 ½ × 31 ¾ inches (100 × 81 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Femme et enfants: le dessin, May 15, 1954 Oil on canvas, 51 ¼ × 38 ¼ inches (130 × 97 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Femme et enfants: le dessin, May 15, 1954

Oil on canvas, 51 ¼ × 38 ¼ inches (130 × 97 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Femme couchée, January 3, 1954 Pencil on paper, 9 ¼ × 12 ½ inches (23.5 × 31.5 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Femme couchée, January 3, 1954

Pencil on paper, 9 ¼ × 12 ½ inches (23.5 × 31.5 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Sylvette, 1954 Metal cutout, bent and painted on both sides, 26 ½ × 19 ¾ × 4 ¼ inches (67 × 50 × 11 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Sylvette, 1954

Metal cutout, bent and painted on both sides, 26 ½ × 19 ¾ × 4 ¼ inches (67 × 50 × 11 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Toros en Vallauris, 1954 Linocut: 1 linoblock, pulled in black on poster paper by Arnéra, 29 ¾ × 37 ¾ inches (75.5 × 96 cm), edition of 240© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Toros en Vallauris, 1954

Linocut: 1 linoblock, pulled in black on poster paper by Arnéra, 29 ¾ × 37 ¾ inches (75.5 × 96 cm), edition of 240
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Portrait de femme à la robe verte, May 1, 1956 Oil on canvas, 36 × 28 ¾ inches (91.5 × 73 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Portrait de femme à la robe verte, May 1, 1956

Oil on canvas, 36 × 28 ¾ inches (91.5 × 73 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Fresque (6 carreaux), July 12, 1956 White terracotta, painted with ceramic pastels under glaze, 17 ¼ × 11 ¾ inches (45 × 30 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Fresque (6 carreaux), July 12, 1956

White terracotta, painted with ceramic pastels under glaze, 17 ¼ × 11 ¾ inches (45 × 30 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Vallauris—1956 Exposition, June 19, 1956 Linocut in 5 colors on 5 linoblocks, pulled on Arches wove paper by Arnéra, 39 ¼ × 26 inches (100 × 66 cm), AP 1/21 + edition of 20 © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Vallauris—1956 Exposition, June 19, 1956

Linocut in 5 colors on 5 linoblocks, pulled on Arches wove paper by Arnéra, 39 ¼ × 26 inches (100 × 66 cm), AP 1/21 + edition of 20
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Peintre dans son atelier, March 20, 1958 India ink on paper, 12 ½ × 9 ¾ inches (32 × 25 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Peintre dans son atelier, March 20, 1958

India ink on paper, 12 ½ × 9 ¾ inches (32 × 25 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Femme assise près de la fenêtre, June 11, 1956 Oil on canvas, 63 ¾ × 51 ¼ inches (162 × 130 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Femme assise près de la fenêtre, June 11, 1956

Oil on canvas, 63 ¾ × 51 ¼ inches (162 × 130 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Portrait de femme assise à la robe verte, February 11, 1961 Oil on canvas, 36 ¼ × 28 ¼ inches (92 × 72 cm)© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pablo Picasso, Portrait de femme assise à la robe verte, February 11, 1961

Oil on canvas, 36 ¼ × 28 ¼ inches (92 × 72 cm)
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

About

Following the success of Picasso: Mosqueteros in the spring of 2009—an exhibition heralded by The New York Times as one of the best shows in New York City since the turn of the century—Picasso biographer John Richardson will again partner with the artist’s grandson Bernard Ruiz-Picasso to curate Picasso: The Mediterranean Years (1945–1962) at Gagosian Britannia Street in London.

In the postwar years, Picasso began to spend more and more time in the South of France, marking a return to the Mediterranean heritage that had nourished some of his most important stylistic changes in the past. A vibrant social scene including bullfighters and poets; an international cast of friends and admirers; the return of Cocteau as his poet laureate; a renewal of family life, with the birth of Claude and Paloma (his children with Françoise Gilot), who joined their siblings Paulo (his son with Olga Khokhlova) and Maya (his daughter with Marie-Thérèse Walter); and the love of Jacqueline Roque and her daughter Cathy infused the work produced there with new life. Besides pitting himself against Delacroix, Manet, and Velázquez and painting some of his most challenging works, in the 1950s Picasso revolutionized sculpture and ceramics and pushed boundaries in lithography, linocuts, and other graphic techniques. At Vallauris, where he transformed a disused perfume factory into a series of studios; at La Californie, his great fin de siècle villa; and at Vauvenargues, his magnificent château on the slopes of the Mont Sainte-Victoire, the work of the most widely known artist in the world was reborn.

Presenting important portraits of Françoise, Claude, Paloma, and his last great muse Jacqueline, as well as linocuts, ceramics, and several iconic sculptures—including La guenon et son petit (1951), Petite fille sautant à la corde (1950), La femme enceinte I (1950), and Sylvette (1954)—Picasso: The Mediterranean Years will be organized around generous loans from members of the artist’s family of works that have come to be known as “Picasso’s Picassos.” Installed in galleries transformed by architect Annabelle Selldorf, the exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with new essays by John Richardson, Elizabeth Cowling, and Jean Cocteau’s biographer, Claude Arnaud.

With a focus on Picasso’s most intimate works, Picasso: The Mediterranean Years will provide an important contrast to Tate Liverpool’s exhibition Picasso: Peace and Freedom. Between these two exhibitions, visitors to Great Britain in the summer of 2010 will have an extraordinary opportunity to explore the public and private faces of this peerlessly multidimensional artist in the 1950s.

A Foreigner Called Picasso

Behind the Art
A Foreigner Called Picasso

Join president of the Picasso Museum, Paris, Cécile Debray; curator, writer, biographer, and historian Annie Cohen-Solal; art historian Vérane Tasseau; and Gagosian director Serena Cattaneo Adorno as they discuss A Foreigner Called Picasso. Organized in association with the Musée national Picasso–Paris and the Palais de la Porte Dorée–Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, the exhibition reframes our perception of Picasso and focuses on his status as a permanent foreigner in France.

Dora Maar, Portrait de Picasso, Paris, studio du 29, rue d’Astorg, winter 1935–36

A Foreigner Called Picasso

Cocurator of the exhibition A Foreigner Called Picasso, at Gagosian, New York, Annie Cohen-Solal writes about the genesis of the project, her commitment to the figure of the outsider, and Picasso’s enduring relevance to matters geopolitical and sociological.

Black and white image of  Pieter Mulier. Photo: © Paolo Roversi, courtesy Alaïa

Fashion and Art: Pieter Mulier

Pieter Mulier, creative director of Alaïa, presented his second collection for the legendary house in Paris in January 2022. After the presentation, Mulier spoke with Derek Blasberg about the show’s inspirations, including a series of ceramics by Pablo Picasso, and about his profound reverence for the intimacy and artistry of the atelier.

Portrait of Sir John Richardson, New York, 2005. Photo: Janette Beckman/Getty Images

The Art of Biography: Sir John Richardson’s “The Minotaur Years”

Pepe Karmel celebrates the release of A Life of Picasso IV: The Minotaur Years, 1933–1943, the final installment of Sir John Richardson’s magisterial biography.

A black-and-white portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler seated at a desk in front of a painting by Pablo Picasso.

Game Changer
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler

Michael Cary pays homage to the visionary dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884–1979).

Grace McCann Morley, c. 1950s.

Game Changer
Grace McCann Morley

Berit Potter pays homage to the ardent museum leader who transformed San Francisco’s relationship to modern art.