Cultural Activity: Museo Picasso

Picasso established and maintained a strong relationship with Barcelona throughout his life. He lived his best years in this city including those during his apprenticeship and those as an artist. In 1960, Picasso expressed his desire for the creation of a museum with which to leave the imprint of his art. Opened in 1963, the Picasso Museum houses some of his finest works from a variety of periods; among them, Science and Charity, The Embrace, Harlequin, and his variations on Velazquez’s Las Meñinas. Furthermore, the museum reveals Picasso’s deep connection with Barcelona, from his adolescence all the way until his death in 1973.

A large painting of classical composition, Science and Charity is one of the major works from Picasso’s early years. This large, ambitious project was part of his academic studies, which were led by his father, Jose Ruiz Blasco. The painting falls into the realm of social realism with its interest in scientific progress and is structured in such a way so that all the characters are focused on the sick patient. The doctor, seen on the left, is actually Picasso’s father—representative of science. On the right, is the nun with child, symbolic of charity and religion. In 1896, Picasso received an Honorary Mention for this work, at the age of 15.

            Picasso’s strong sense of personal freedom and expressiveness led him to explore his horizons, rejecting academicism in favor of a more revolutionary style. As an artist, he focused more on fully on expressing moods and emotions through the use of color. Hence, his famous “Blue Period” and "Rose Period, of which the museum houses a number of works, including one of my personal favorites, The Embrace. 

Perhaps, his earliest and strongest influence was Velazquez, whose works were carefully studied and even copied by the young Picasso. Towards the end of his life, Picasso carried out several variations on Velazquez’s Las Meninas. In 1957, these experiments culminated in a series of 58 oil paintings, which mainly focus on the Infanta Margartia Maria, around whom the rest of the characters appear harmful and aggressive. In these paintings, Picasso re-introduces cubism. This series, which is also mixed with another sequence known as ‘La Californie’, is perhaps the clearest and best example of the artist’s personal iconography. For just as Velazquez’s sequence was a criticism on absolutism, Picasso’s series was a “eulogy of freedom and peace”.