50 Years of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona. The Exhibitions
In the framework of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Museu Picasso, this small exhibition evokes the eighty-odd shows organised around the figure of Pablo Picasso during the fifty years of the museum's existence.
Over the course of its fifty years of history, the Museu Picasso has presented seventy-nine temporary exhibitions dedicated to disseminating the work of Picasso and that of artists connected to him. 50 Years of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona. The Exhibitions presents a journey through these shows, and consequently through the prolific trajectory of Pablo Picasso, reviewing the artists and works that influenced him and those of several coeval artists. The show is also the last tribute that the Museu Picasso has paid the artist, and besides surveying the history and the development of the museum itself, the society in which it was created and the country as a whole, it brings to a close the activities commemorating its fifty years of existence.
Relevant works, relevant exhibitions
The first temporary exhibition staged by the museum opened in October 1971 under the title Works by Picasso in the Hugué Collection. It paved the way for one line of action within the exhibition program, designed to disseminate the quality, wealth and diversity of Picasso’s oeuvre, complemented by the second program, designed to further knowledge of his background by displaying works by contemporary artists and trends. The works by Pablo Picasso, Manolo Hugué, Joaquín Torres García and so many others have been presented in the museum halls following the most suitable criteria, both as regards the exhibition narratives and as regards the improvements in museum displays. An interactive display in the galleries allows visitors to consult documentation on all the exhibitions presented by the museum.
Technical and museological evolution
The technological and social changes produced over this half a century have had a bearing on our presentations. Technological innovations have been applied to the museum displays, and the shipping, conservation and dissemination of art works have also adapted their practices and functioning accordingly.
Communicating the exhibition
The museum has endeavoured to interest and attract as many visitors as possible. Paying special attention to publicising its projects by means of posters and other communication elements, it has ensured that both its regular and its potential audiences have been informed of each and every exhibition staged. These elements bear graphic witness to the museum’s campaigns and to the evolution of taste and of design over these fifty years.
The catalog as a witness
The catalogues published by the museum, with the reproductions and technical details of the works displayed, remain as graphic testimonies of the projects. As well as compiling select bibliographies of the main aspects of each show, the essays they contain offer readers in-depth accounts of the art works and provide solid research that explains their genesis and development, thereby furthering the overall understanding of displays and of the mutual influences between Picasso and other artists.
Chronicle of the exhibition
50 years of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona: Exhibitions
This is the third and final volume of the catalogue series published on occasion of the small-scale exhibitions that the Museu Picasso has organized to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary. It is dedicated to the seventy-nine exhibitions that it has put on throughout its history: given the impossibility of describing them individually, the author, Montse Torres, offers us a good synthesis of the spirit and the main guidelines that inspired them.
