“The Guggenheim Museum presents Young Picasso in Paris, an intimate exhibition comprising a total of ten paintings and works on paper executed during Pablo Picasso’s introduction to the French capital. Created over the course of one pivotal year, these works explore a critical juncture in his artistic development, as Picasso encountered novel contemporary subjects and styles.
Picasso (b. 1881, Málaga, Spain; d. 1973, Mougins, France) arrived in Paris from Barcelona in autumn 1900, during the final weeks of the Exposition Universelle that included his 1898 painting Last Moments in the Spanish pavilion. The ville lumière, or city of lights, captivated, and ultimately transformed, the nineteen-year-old Spaniard. He absorbed much of what Paris had to offer over his initial two-month stay and during his return the following May through the end of 1901. Picasso patronized not only the art galleries, but also the bohemian cafés, raucous nightclubs, and sensational dance halls in the hilltop neighborhood of Montmartre.
Coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso’s death, Young Picasso in Paris highlights a significant work, Le Moulin de la Galette (ca. November 1900), from the Guggenheim collection. The famous dance hall—formerly a mill engaged in the production of a brown bread, or galette—had also been depicted by such avant-gardists as Ramón Casas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Vincent van Gogh. In his titillating version, Picasso rendered a vibrant cross section of Paris society mingling under the dance hall’s lights.” — Guggenheim Museum
Young Picasso in Paris is organized by Megan Fontanella, Curator, Modern Art and Provenance. Conservation research and treatment of Picasso’s Le Moulin de la Galette were conducted by Julie Barten, Senior Painting Conservator and Associate Director of Conservation Affairs.
Images courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.