Picasso & Abstraction – Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

The exhibition will address the major stages that marked the links between Picasso’s work and the history of abstract art, from the first Cubist experiments of 1907, carried out on the fringes of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, to his later work, which is sometimes situated on the borders of action painting. This surprising relationship, made up of small advances, retreats and backward steps, will be presented in the subtle chronological and thematic course of the exhibition, revealing the artist’s pendulum movement between abstraction and the figurative over the decades.

Another major theme of the exhibition will be the artist’s studio, a true formal laboratory, and will show Picasso’s creative process through various series (drawings and prints), allowing the viewer to understand how he works and reflects on the representation of the chosen motifs. The studio, which is both a place of creation and a setting for the work, is also the space where the painter’s imagination is realised, allowing a glimpse of the ambiguity between reality and fiction.

The viewer will not only be invited to appreciate Pablo Picasso’s extraordinary creativity and his ability to constantly reinvent himself, but also to measure, through his work, how impulses towards the unknown remain an excellent way of getting to know oneself better and of freeing oneself from the limiting labels.

Save the date!

Ticket presales will start on 1 September 2022 (until 13 October 2022).

The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm, and on weekends from 11 am to 6 pm. We strongly advise you to book your ticket online to avoid queuing.

Around the exhibition

CONFERENCES

This season, four exceptional encounters open the debate and discussion on contemporary societal themes around the multiple facets of Pablo Picasso. Exhibition curators, sociologists, journalists, lawyers, authors, artists, philosophers, art historians… A varied panel offers a plural view on the man, the artist and his work. Join the debate!

14.10.2022 | MEET THE CURATORS (FR)

Picasso & Abstraction Inaugural conference of the exhibition and meeting with the curators Michel Draguet, Director General of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, and Joanne Snrech, curator in charge of paintings at the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

Next CONFERENCES

26.11.2022 | Picasso, vues pluri-elles ? (FR)
11.12.2022 | Pi©asso, une image , un nom. (FR)
04.02.2023 | Picasso, tribal ? Face to face ! (EN)

MASTERCLASS

25.11.2022 | MASTERCLASS : PICASSO & ABSTRACTION (NL)

Marianne Knop, guide and art historian, will take you to the heart of the exhibition’s various themes, focusing on the artist’s experiments with the figure-background relationship, the fragmentation of the picture plane, and the play with matter. By making a concrete link between ideas and theories, this master class will provide you with all the necessary tools to visit the exhibition as a connoisseur.

In collaboration with Amarant