The inauguration was attended by Annie Cohen-Solal, Johan Popelard, Stefano Baia Curioni, director of the Palazzo Te Foundation, and the mayor of Mantua. The exhibition's presentation conference was graced by the presence and extraordinary contribution of Patti Smith, one of the greatest female voices in rock history, as well as an iconic figure of both art and womanhood. She was scheduled to perform that evening at Palazzo Te. Although bad weather forced organizers to relocate the concert, the artist gifted a brief, vocal-only performance that moved all those present.
The exhibition at Palazzo Te presents a Picasso that may seem unfamiliar to many, focusing on his relationship with Poetry and Metamorphosis as tools to overcome a major crisis he experienced in the 1930s. This was a time when France, the country that always regarded him as a "foreigner" (to the point of stamping "SPANISH" on his identity card in 1931), was hostile toward him, in a period also dominated by dictatorships and fascism, including in his native country.
Additionally, the exhibition is designed in close connection with the Palazzo that hosts it, which serves as the central point for Mantua's cultural program for 2024, dedicated to the theme of Metamorphosis. It particularly explores the relationship between Giulio Romano and Ovid's poem, which inspired the construction of Palazzo Te from 1525 to 1535. The city is also preparing to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Palazzo's construction in 2025.
Pablo Picasso Illustrazioni per le Metamorfosi di Ovidio, Lausanne, 1931 acqueforti su rame Parigi, Musée national Picasso-Paris, dazione Pablo Picasso, 1979 Ercole uccide il centauro Nesso libro IX, pp. 224-225, Parigi, 20 settembre 1930 © RMN-Grand Palais / Thierry Le Mage / RMN-GP / Dist. Photo SCALA, Firenze, 2024 © Succession Picasso by SIAE 2024
Thus, the exhibition presents the series of engravings commissioned from Picasso in 1930, dedicated to Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, creating from the very first room a direct dialogue with Giulio Romano and the Renaissance paintings of the palace. Similarly, the exhibition's conclusion revisits the artist's engagement with mythological tradition, this time through the figure of the Minotaur.
"If all the stages of my life could be represented as points on a map and joined with a line, the result would be the figure of the Minotaur."
This quote from Pablo Picasso is displayed on the wall that features, among others, the artwork Minotauromachia, an example of the etching he created in 1935.
In the work, the Minotaur is indeed Picasso's alter ego—ferocious and restless. The defeated female bullfighter also represents Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso's young lover at the time, who was expecting his child. The overall somber atmosphere of the piece symbolically reflects the artist's deep inner search during the 1930s, a time when he was troubled, if not terrified, by the political situation: General Franco would soon trigger the Spanish Civil War, and Europe would descend into the horrors that led to World War II.... read the rest of the article»
In the meantime, the exhibition introduces us to Picasso's relationship with poets, his first friends when he arrived in Paris in 1900, and with Poetry itself, to which he turned during the years he experienced a crisis regarding drawing and painting—though in a language that wasn't his own, in a country that, as already mentioned, always made him feel like a foreigner. It also portrays him as a man of great culture and curiosity across all disciplines, even science. Picasso lived his life through *Metamorphosis* and continuous change, in an effort to overcome the crisis of a continent whose tragic fate he had sensed as early as the 1930s. This metamorphosis in his life is symbolically represented in a 1969 painting, The Adolescent, which is also on display here.
Pablo Picasso Adolescente 2 agosto 1969 olio su tela Parigi collezione privata © Succession Picasso by SIAE 2024
From an artistic point of view, in addition to the engravings, drawings, writings, and some sculptures, the exhibition offers a series of paintings, including several large-scale works, some of which are being displayed for the first time thanks to the valuable contribution from the artist's family, from whom these works originate.
The narrative is enriched by the presence of several ancient artifacts, such as an extraordinary and previously unseen Etruscan vase, on loan from the Rovati Foundation in Milan, dedicated to the theme of metamorphosis and the soul's journey to the underworld. Also featured is a white marble bust from the 1st century A.D., a Torso of the Minotaur from the group with Theseus, originating from the National Roman Museum, Palazzo Massimo.
In conclusion, this is a remarkable exhibition, set within the visit to the splendid Palazzo Te, that tells the story of one of the greatest artists and innovators of the 20th century, revealing his most intimate and, in some ways, dramatic aspects. Beyond admiring the displayed works, the exhibition invites us to reflect on some of the archetypes of human existence and on a highly relevant theme today: the figure of the "foreigner," marked as such by a society unable to accept the different.
Antonio Giuliani
Published on September 06, 2024
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