PHOTOS: China's Largest-Ever Picasso Exhibition is On Now in Beijing

By Bryan Grogan, June 19, 2019

Picasso – Birth Of A Genius, the largest ever showing of works by the revolutionary Spanish artist in China opened in Beijing’s UCCA Center of Contemporary Art last Friday, June 14. The exhibition features a total of 103 works made between 1893-1921, costing a total of around USD800 million. Coming to China on loan from Musée national Picasso-Paris (MnPP), the exhibition will run up until September 1, later this year.

The exhibition is grouped into six major sections, or chapters, with curators showing the “creative formation and evolution of the most daring, original and prolific talent in the history of modern art.” Works from his famed Blue Period and Rose Period in the early 1900s, as well as primitivism and his subsequent move towards cubism are all examined throughout the exhibition.

Picasso – Birth Of A Genius was made possible by the support of the French Embassy in China as part of their 2019 Festival Croisements, and is a significant cultural and artistic exchange between China and France. Other sponsors and supporters of the show include Sotheby’s, Morgan Stanley and more.

Speaking about the exhibition, UCCA Director and CEO Philip Tinari said “For UCCA, this exhibition marks the realization of a dream we have held since our opening in 2007, to present not only recent developments in contemporary art but to examine the underpinnings of the contemporary by showing modern masters.”

Check out some of the works currently on show at the exhibition below:

‘Self Portrait.’ Image courtesy of ©SuccessionPicasso2019
‘Mother and Child.’ Image courtesy of ©SuccessionPicasso2019