NGV announces major Picasso exhibition blockbuster in Melbourne from June 2022

The life and works of Pablo Picasso and the major artists he inspired will be celebrated in a world premiere exhibition bound for NGV.

The extraordinary career and legacy of Pablo Picasso will be captured at the National Gallery of Victoria in a world-premiere Melbourne Winter Masterpieces.

Opening on June 10, The Picasso Century charts Picasso in dialogue with the many artists, poets and intellectuals with whom he intercepted and interacted throughout the 20th century.

Exclusively curated by Didier Ottinger, deputy director of the Musee national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou in Paris, it features more than 70 works by Picasso alongside more than 100 works by more than 50 of his contemporaries drawn from French national collections as well as the NGV collection.

“An exhibition has to tell a story and there is one man who is at the centre of the century present in every single artist’s mind of this period and it is Picasso,’’ said Ottinger, a noted scholar of 20th century painting.

“What the show demonstrates is a genius. I think it’s quite exceptional to have so many important works of one of the major 20th century artists.”

Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of a woman (Portrait de femme) 1938 is among 70 works by the renowned artist in the exhibition.

Natalia Goncharova’s The carriers (Les porteuses) is among works by artists Picasso influenced.

Others featured include Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque, Salvador Dalí, Alberto Giacometti, Françoise Gilot, Valentine Hugo, Marie Laurencin, Dora Maar, André Masson, Henri Matisse, Dorothea Tanning and Gertrude Stein.

The Picasso Century examines the diverse influences, encounters and collaborative relationships that steered Picasso through many distinct artistic periods, such as his blue period, cubism and surrealism.

NGV director Tony Ellwood said the exhibition offered an “extraordinary” insight into the development of modern art and Picasso’s role in it.

“Through more than 170 works of art – including many that have never been seen in Australia

– audiences will come to appreciate the many ways in which Picasso influenced – and was influenced by – the artistic community that surrounded him,” Mr Ellwood said.

The exhibition will include a rich selection of works by artists rarely exhibited in Australia, including Natalia Goncharova, Julio González, Wifredo Lam, Suzanne Valadon and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva.

The Picasso Century is at NGV International from June 10 to October 9. Tickets: NGV.Melbourne