Galerie Claude Lemand

4 February 2018

PICASSO, GUERNICA. - Musée national Picasso-Paris.

PICASSO, GUERNICA.
 Exhibition from March 27 to July 29. 2018.
 Musée national Picasso-Paris.

Following the 80th anniversary of the creation of the work, the Musée national Picasso-Paris, in partnership with the National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center, presents an exhibition about Guernica, masterpiece of Pablo Picasso. The anti-Franco, anti-fascist and pacifist symbol, which is one of the most famous paintings in the world, was preserved in 1981 to Madrid where it is now permanently displayed. Thanks to an exceptional collection of sketches and archives, the exhibition proposes a lesson on the history of Guernica and clarifies questions about Picasso’s political engagement.

In response to Guernica, the Musée national Picasso-Paris will also display a selection of works by international artists inspired by Picasso’s example, amongst which Dia Al-Azzawi, the Iraqi artist who has been living in London since 1976 and who was devastated in September 1982 by the massacre of civilian Palestinians in the camps of Sabra and Shatila.

« With Guernica, Picasso instigated a turning-point in my art and in all the history of art, he succeeded in inventing symbols that are simple and expressive, historical and universal, a style fit to our human and moral values of rejecting any use of violence against civilians, that cannot be justified by any ideology or political regime. ». (Dia Al-Azzawi, 21.01.2018. Translated from Arabic by Claude Lemand)

Translated from French by Valérie Didier Hess.

IMAGES:

 Pablo Picasso, Study for Guernica (Head of horse), Paris, 2 May 1937. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Photo © Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. © Succession Picasso.

 Dia Al-Azzawi, We are not seen but Corpses. The Sabra and Shatila Massacres, London, 1983. Portfolio of 8 etchings and 1 lithography on paper, 100 x 75 cm. Signed and numbered by the artist, in a limited edition of 60 copies. Collection Claude & France Lemand. Photo © Dia Al-Azzawi. Courtesy Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.