Celebration Picasso 1973-2023

The celebration in 2023 of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso has given rise to an ambitious commemorative programme with an important international dimension, with exhibitions in numerous museums throughout Spain, including the Prado, Reina Sofía, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Picasso de Málaga, Guggenheim in Bilbao, and Picasso in Barcelona and audiovisual productions that bring his work closer to today's audiences.  

The Picasso 1973-2023 celebration is structured around some forty exhibitions and events that are held mainly in Europe and North America. It is also an opportunity to develop a historiographical study of the approaches to Picasso's work. To coordinate the celebration, the French and Spanish authorities, in response to the commitment agreed at the XXVI Franco-Spanish Summit in Montauban (March 15, 2021), have created a specific bilateral Commission, made up of representatives of the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of both countries and by qualified personalities: Cécile Debray, the President of the National Picasso Museum in Paris, Bernard Ruiz-Picaso, the President of the Almine Foundation and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso for Art, Coordinator of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 for France, and Carlos Alberdi, coordinator of the Picasso Celebration for Spain.  

This binational commission intends to reflect through the extensive program the figure of Picasso as a universal and pro-European artist, who embodies the founding principles of Europe, made up of democratic states, defenders of human rights and freedom of expression. His work, Guernica, has become the greatest anti-war symbol in our modern history at an international level. 

The programme is organized by the Spanish National Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, the Musée National Picasso-Paris, Acción Cultural Española, and with the support of Telefónica in Spain.

*Caption: Pablo Picasso, “The acrobat”, 1930, oil on canvas, 162 x 130 cm, MP120, Musée national Picasso-Paris © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Adrien Didierjean © Succession Picasso 2022