"From Picasso to Tąpies: Spanish 20th Century Art from the Reina Sofia"
2001-10-27 until 2001-03-17
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag
Den Haag, , NL Netherlands

This autumn, the Gemeentemuseum is holding an exhibition of 20th-century Spanish masterpieces: leading works by Picasso, Miró, Dalķ, Gris, Fernįndez, Tąpies etc. seldom seen outside the walls of Madrid's Reina Sofķa Museum.

Spanish artists working in the period before 1945 exercised a major influence on artistic developments in the twentieth century. They were in the vanguard of the changes taking place in the art world, in style, in professional attitudes and in the place of the artist within society. Picasso was a key figure in this respect. With his succession of styles, he demonstrated the importance of artistic freedom. And his world-famous Guernica was a penetrating commentary on the Spanish civil war. (Ten preliminary studies for this are included in the exhibition.)

The stylistic evolution in Picasso's work is also reflected (albeit in a completely different way) in that of artists like Miró and Dalķ. After World War II, artists like Tąpies, Chillida and Saura maintained the Spanish tradition: they were interested in Abstraction and Surrealism, both figurative and non-figurative. Their work often responds to their predecessors' themes and choices of material. The masterpieces in this exhibition are all from the Reina Sofķa Museum in Spain and there is very rarely any chance to see them elsewhere.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Huilende Kop V,
8 juni 1937
Krijt en gouache, 29 x 23,2 cm.
Coll. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reķna Sofia

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