The Imaginary Portraits of Pablo Picasso

he Imaginary Portraits of Pablo Picasso
From the Permanent Collection of the International Museum of Art & Science, McAllen, Texas, U.S.A.
International Exchange Touring Exhibition
2017-08-05 ~ 2017-10-08

The Ministry of Culture works actively to coordinate cultural resources to promote international collaborations and exchanges. After two years of planning, the National Museum of History and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts are holding an exhibition of lithographs, “The Imaginary Portraits of Pablo Picasso International Exchange Touring Exhibition: From the Permanent Collection of the International Museum of Art & Science, McAllen, Texas, U.S.A.”

This exhibition will come to two museums in northern and west-centeral Taiwan - respectively the NMH, and then the NTMoFA. This exhibition will give the Taiwanese people an opportunity to explore Picasso’s timeless surrealist vision.

Picasso’s Imaginary Portraits represent one of the high points of twentieth-century art, in terms of the career, style, and creativity of the artist himself. Picasso was the most important artist of the twentieth century, and the founder of Cubism. He achieved fame early, but continually tried to challenge and improve himself. Through this ongoing learning process, he refined his unique painting style.

Picasso’s greatest achievement, and the one which assures him an important place in the history of art, was his ability to leverage the untrammeled wellsprings of his creativity by constantly innovating and reinventing his artistic style. Many major twentieth-century artistic movements were derived from or influenced by his genius, including Analytical Cubism, Synthetic Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, and Collage Art. The emergence of these styles resulted from Picasso continually challenging himself. In utilizing revolutionary methods to strive for breakthroughs, Picasso continually pushed visual cognition into new realms.

In his later work, Picasso reflected on these changes and the developmental course of his art, bringing it all together in his Imaginary Portraits. The 29 lithographs in this exhibition were created in the later stages of his career, while he lived in France.This exhibition shows how he combined the best elements from each period to create a new, integrated personal style. In the 1940s, he began to focus on lithography. The Imaginary Portraits were created three years before his death. The unique form of expression that they adopt communicates the creative philosophy and artistic ideals of Picasso’s last years. This series has become a key resource for anyone seeking to study Picasso’s works.

This is the first time that these lithographs have been shown in Taiwan. The NMH and the NTMoFA are delighted to have this opportunity to bring these masterpieces here on loan so that people in Taiwan can experience this outstanding exhibition. We hope that by enjoying this exhibition, visitors will feel encouraged to explore further the artistic creations of this epoch-making artist.