Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso

...the reality of the 20th century is not the reality of the 19th century, not at all and Picasso was the only one in painting who felt it, the only one.

- writer Gertrude Stein

With a career spanning seven decades of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was an integral part of the birth and development of modern art. Ceaselessly innovative and prolific, he embodies the creative spirit of the modern age, yet for all his modernity he was deeply connected with the art of the past. Although he was a pioneer of abstraction, he never abandoned the figure; although he experimented with new media, he remained a master of traditional oil painting and bronze sculpture. His work lays bare his personal passions, desires and fears, as well as the anxieties of his time, the horrors of war, and the fragility and resilience of human life.

Drawn from the collection of the Musée National Picasso in Paris, this exhibition shows a rare perspective on the life and work of this iconic yet still surprising artist.

The exhibition room by room

• From Spain to Paris: 1895–1905
• The enchantments of Oceania and Africa: 1906–1909
• Cubism, collage and constructions: 1910–1915
• A return to classicism: 1916–1924
• Brushes with surrealism: 1925–1935
• Anxieties of love and war: 1936–1939
• World War II to Korea: 1940–1951
• The joy of life: 1952–1960
• Last decades: 1961–1972