Dilip Kuner
A YEAR of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso has officially started.
The culture ministers of France and Spain officially launched ‘Picasso Celebration’ at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.
The two countries have joined forces to celebrate the Spaniard who lived in France for most of his adult life.
More than 40 exhibitions, conferences and other events are planned at museums in Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Malaga, as well as in cities across the world.
The celebrations were launched by the two ministers standing in front of Picasso’s iconic painting Guernica
Picasso painted it at his home in Paris in response to the 1937 bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town, which was bombed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of Spanish Nationalists led by Franco.
Upon completion, Guernica was exhibited at the Spanish display at the 1937 Paris International Exposition, and then at other venues around the world. The touring exhibition was used to raise funds for Spanish war relief.
Picasso was born in Malaga on October 25, 1881 and died in Mougins, France, on April 8, 1973.
“We aim to revindicate the artistic legacy of Picasso and the relevance of his work,” said Spanish Culture Minister Miquel Iceta.
“If there is one artist that defines the 20th century, who presents it in all its cruelty, violence, passion, excesses and contradictions, that artist is Pablo Picasso.”
READ MORE:
- Russian Museum in Spain’s Malaga reopens its doors with 350 works by Picasso
- Stepping inside Picasso’s childhood home in Malaga on Spain’s Costa del Sol
- Picasso’s Guernica revisited: The Malagueno artist’s perplexing masterpiece
