Presented at the Casa Encendida in Madrid (Ronda de Valencia, 2) the exhibition Picasso. untitled, curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert, that brings together fifty works from Pablo Picasso’s last period (1963-1973), 12 of which have never before been shown to the public and 23 of which are being shown for the first time in Spain. Each of them has been reinterpreted by a contemporary, national or international artist.
Unlike the first five decades, Picasso’s late work is not limited by immediate political or formal readings. Academically criticised, perhaps due more to ideological than aesthetic questions, this period of the late Picasso, which, although the closest to us, is probably the least studied, is open to multiple interpretations and represents an as yet unknown terrain for many. The exhibition invites us to explore beyond the familiar titles, opening up spaces for issues relevant to today’s society, such as race, class, gender, identity, anthropocentrism and empowerment.
The fifty works presented, which include ceramic pieces, drawings and large-scale works, provide visitors with a radically contemporary perspective on the artist’s work. Each now has a new title and description, proposed by the invited artists. Some generated through speculative processes and others through poetic or political interpretations, which construct a different narrative in keeping with today’s society. The idea of inviting fifty artists to reconstruct Picasso’s work arose from the fact that Picasso did not name his pieces, but that the people around him did it for him.
