Picasso. Engravings, 1900-1942

Throughout his career Picasso produced over two thousand engravings. This show presents a selection of prints from the years 1900 to 1942. Characterised by their technical virtuosity, these works are iconographically representative of his oeuvre.

A passionate engraver, Picasso was surprisingly prolific in the field of printmaking, in which he produced over two thousand works, without counting the different states, which make him the most prolific and certainly most important of twentieth century engravers. A selection from his huge repertoire has been made for this occasion; spanning the years 1900 to 1942, the prints on display are proof of his technical skill and iconographic development.

A significant part of the exhibition consists of sets of states. Besides providing viewers with a glimpse of Picasso's working methods and his frequent changes of opinion, the states reveal the significance of his images. Brigitte Baer, the curator of the show and also the author of the catalogue raisonné of Picasso's graphic oeuvre, suggests two levels of interpretation: the first strives to illustrate the chronicle of emotions rather than facts that engraving seems to have been for Picasso, while the second focuses on technique and on the impatient, inventive artist's use of it, all described in simple everyday terms that avoid specialist jargon.