Where: Art Gallery of Ontario
When: October 6, 2021 – January 16, 2022
Cost: Admission to Picasso: Painting the Blue Period is free for all visitors 25 and under, AGO Members and holders of the $35 Annual Pass. Single tickets, which include access to the AGO Collection, are $25 per person. To purchase visit tickets.ago.ca/events/Picasso
Details: The wait is nearly over! This fall the Art Gallery of Ontario(AGO) presents a major exhibition on Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period (1901-1904). Combining art historical research, cutting-edge conservation science and sublime works of art, Picasso: Painting the Blue Period is the first exhibition in Canada to focus on the modernist master’s early years. Opening on Oct. 6, 2021, and featuring more than 100 objects from 15 countries, the exhibition is co-organized by the AGO and The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC with the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris.
This landmark exhibition concentrates on the years 1901-1904, telling the story of how Picasso, then a fledgling painter in his late teens and early twenties, formulated his signature Blue Period style as he moved back and forth between the cities of Paris and Barcelona. Revealing how the young artist borrowed from and transformed the subject matter and motifs of his contemporaries and predecessors during these critical years, the exhibition will also show how Picasso’s multi-layered responses to the social and political events around him resulted in spellbinding works that to this day force audiences to grapple with uncomfortable issues such as poverty, labor unrest, gender inequality and war.
At the heart of Picasso: Painting the Blue Period is new scientific and art historical research undertaken by the AGO and The Phillips Collection on the three Blue Period paintings in their respective collections: The Blue Room (Paris, 1901; The Phillips Collection), Crouching Beggarwoman (Barcelona, 1902; Art Gallery of Ontario), and The Soup (Barcelona, 1903; Art Gallery of Ontario). Laboratories dedicated to conservation science provide audiences the opportunity to explore the underlying layers of these three Blue Period canvases. In the final gallery of the exhibition, audiences will see how these three Blue Period paintings informed Picasso’s artistic experiments during his important Rose Period of 1904-1907.
In celebration of Picasso: Painting the Blue Period, AGO Bistro will present French and Spanish-inspired bites and cocktails this fall. Stay tuned for more details and visit ago.ca/dine.
More Info: For Talks, Courses and Events visit ago.ca/events