Frederic Amat: «The Three-Cornered Hat»

In 1919, the year Picasso donated his portrait of Léonide Massine as Harlequin to Barcelona, London staged the premiere of The Three-Cornered Hat by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, with music by Manuel de Falla, choreography by Léonide Massine and costumes and sets by Picasso. One hundred years later, as part of the Festival de Música y Danza in Granada, Pablo Heras-Casado invited Frederic Amat to take part in the commemoration of the centenary of this historic event.

Estudi cromàtic i anotacions pel projecte de «El sombrero de tres picos» de Manuel de Falla, escena i banda visual encàrrec del Festival Internacional de Música i Dansa de Granada, 2019

The artist’s proposal consisted of portraying the dance on vast screens behind the stage using the language of the paintbrush and his hands, with their traces of ink, like a trail projected by a beam of light. He wanted to paint the ascending scale of Falla’s score and the images it suggested until its dramatic climax. This gallery presents an installation with the preparatory drawings and materials used in Amat’s 2019 project for The Three-Cornered Hat. The piece was conducted by Heras-Casado and performed by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in the majestic circular courtyard of the Palace of Carlos V in Granada.