Picasso/Dalí. Dalí/Picasso
This exhibition explores the much-overlooked relationship between two key figures in 20th-century art who have often been seen as mythical, stylistically self-driven figures with diametrically opposing political views.
However, these two artists had a remarkable impact on each other. Picasso helped Dalí during his early years as a budding artist and in the 1930s they were both involved in the Surrealist project. They both reacted simultaneously to the horrors of the Spanish Civil War by producing works expressing the human suffering caused by the conflict. After the Civil War, Dalí referenced Picasso and paid tribute to him in his work. In the 1950s the two artists began to converge again around work by the great masters, Velázquez in particular.
This show presents paintings, drawings, etchings and sculptures by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí—some of which are very rarely loaned—from over 25 museums worldwide, as well as documents setting the artists’ work in context.
Chronicle of the exhibition
Picasso/Dalí. Dalí/Picasso
This catalogue ties in with a remarkable exhibition that explores 20th-century art through two of its leading figures-Picasso and Dalí-and their mutual admiration and rivalry. It takes an in-depth look at their relationship and presents both artists within the context of their time and their surroundings. Works and documents from the time reveal the counterpoints and contradictions throughout their relationship, from their first meeting in the 1920s, when Dalí visited Picasso's studio after making his first avant-garde forays, through the 1930s and their friendships with leading intellectuals―André Breton, Paul Éluard and Georges Bataille―through to their opposing positions following the Spanish Civil War.
