Picasso and Miró, the flesh and the spirit in Vallette

Fundación MAPFRE, in collaboration with the Office of The President and Fondazzjoni-Patrimonju-Malti has inaugurated the exhibition on-Picasso and Miró, The Flesh and the Spirit, a show that, for the first time, brings together these two great artists of the 20th century on an international level.

The exhibition, which aims to enhance the prestige of Valletta as a European capital for 2018, forms part of the cultural event “Picasso-Mediterranean”, led by the Musée national Picasso-Paris. It is an initiative for which around sixty European institutions from the world of culture, notably the Picasso Museum of Barcelona, the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, the Van Gogh Foundation of Arles, The Museums of Marseille, The Paris Opera, The Capodimonte Museum of Naples, The National Gallery of Modern Art of Rome and the Civic Museums Foundation of Venice, have all joined together for the purpose of paying tribute to the famous artist from Malaga, exploring his creations and the places that inspired him, providing an original cultural experience and strengthening ties across the entire Mediterranean area.

If Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was the founder of Cubism, forerunner of the other avant-garde movements, Joan Miró (18931983) contributed as one of the leading figures in the development of surrealism. But above and beyond the major artistic currents and movements, the two of them knew how to create their own individual universe, something that individualized their place in the History of Art, positioning them at the epicenter of the avant-gardists as independent figures. It is this independence and singularity that led them to becoming both a benchmark for other artists and protagonists in the renewal of art: Picasso through line drawings and sketches and Miró with his use of color and his intensity.

These two aspects are the ones that stand out most in the work we have selected for this joint show. In the Vollard Suite prints, Picasso does not use color. The contrasts between black and white allow him to consolidate his return to more a more classic style of drawing and a more reflexive world. On the other hand, the collection of Miró paintings reveals the enthusiasm he felt for color.

The first part of the exhibition gathers together the 100 etchings that make up the Vollard Suite, produced by Pablo Picasso between 13 September 1930 and March 1937, commissioned by the art dealer and publisher Ambroise-Vollard.

The complete series includes three Portraits of Vollard, five prints referred to as The Battle of Love, forty-six prints on The Sculptor’s Studio, which are the ones that form the true nucleus of the series, four prints on Rembrandt, fifteen on The Minautor and The Blind Minotaur and twenty-seven miscellaneous compositions.

The complicated story behind the work, its thematic variety and diversity of techniques, in which the most varied means of production were brought together, (burin, etching, aquatint, gouache and drypoint and even their use in combination) led to its dispersal, meaning that we are currently aware of only very few complete collections. Acquired by the Foundation in 2007, it constitutes one of the most important historical-artistic testimonies of the first half of the 20th century.

The show then moves onto a selection of forty-four paintings by Joan Miró, focusing on his production from the 1960s and 1970s, that reflect not only a more mature Miró in full possession of his artistic powers but, above all, demonstrate his passion for color as a means of expression and its use to give genuine support and substance to painting.

From the seventies onwards, Miró began to refine the motifs behind his work, stripping them right back, as can be seen inthe works that simulate the flight of a bird or the numerous heads displayed in the exhibition. Strange creatures, sometimes mischievous, others lyrical, are ascribed human attributes. Solitary heads leap out from the canvas and look about inquisitively, inducing a combination of fear mixed with the humor that runs through all his work.

In the final part of the exhibition, we find a series of pieces that are better understood by recalling the famous phrase by which, accord-Turkish

ing to the artist, he wanted to “assassinate painting”. This assassination has a double meaning. On the one hand, waste materials such as used palette boards, resins and paint blobs became protagonists. On the other, works by unknown artists came into play: he would buy paintings in local markets which he would then paint over, resulting in a mixture of both artists.

The opening was presided by H.E Mrs Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta together with Mr Antonio Huertas, Chairman of MAPFRE and Chairman of Fundación MAPFRE who addressedthe distinguished guests.