The Tate Modern has revealed plans to host a landmark exhibition of Picasso’s work throughout 1932, dubbed his ‘year of wonders’.
In the first solo exhibition of Picasso’s work to be held in the Tate Modern, over 100 pieces will be displayed, documenting a pivotal year in the artist’s life.
The exhibition will be titled, Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy, and will come to London over summer 2018.
In a period plagued by worries over post-Brexit isolation, the promise of this collection fuels hope that the British art industry will continue to transcend borders.
The curator, Achim Borchardt-Hume expresses his desire to reach beyond ‘myth’ and get close to Picasso ‘as an artist and a person’. The decision was reached to focus on an intense period of the painter’s life.
In 1932, as Picasso’s love affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter verged on obsession, he produced arguably his best work, exceeding expectations of him as the world’s most influencial living artist.
Picasso’s paintings of Walter are highly revered, in particular a piece named Le Rêve, meaning The Dream.
The piece is one of his most erotic, depicting an erect penis as part of Walter’s face – it has never before been exhibited in the UK.
La Rêve’s previous owner, Steve Wynn, infamously managed to put his elbow through the piece but restoration was successful.
Rumour has it, this piece was bought in 2013 by collector and hedge fund manager, Steven A Cohen but is being loaned to the Tate Modern for this unique collection.
Another piece named Juene Fille Devant un Miroir, meaning Girl Before a Mirror, is also being loaned from Moma in New York.
Also featuring in the widely anticipated exhibition are voluptuous sculptures and busts, and realist portraits of Picasso’s first wife, Olga Khokhlova.
Borchadt-Hume promises that the collection will reveal Picasso’s ‘explosive energy’ and ‘surprise those who think they already know him’.
Picasso once said that ‘art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life’ – the exhibition will depict the dust that fell from the life of this artistic genius in the most vivid year of his existence.