Picasso in Fontainebleau

Oct 8, 2023–Feb 17, 2024

MoMA

Pablo Picasso. Three Musicians. Fontainebleau, summer 1921. Oil on canvas, 6' 7" × 7' 3 3/4" (200.7 × 222.9 cm). Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • MoMA, Floor 3, 3 South The Edward Steichen Galleries

Pablo Picasso spent much of the summer of 1921 in a garage. Inside this unlikely studio in a rented villa in Fontainebleau, France, he worked prolifically to create a startling body of work. Among his most astonishing creations were two radically different, six-foot-high canvases that he painted side-by-side within weeks of each other: Three Women at the Spring and Three Musicians. Picasso in Fontainebleau will reunite these two monumental paintings, along with other works from the artist’s pivotal three-month stay at the improvised studio, complemented by photographs and archival documents.

Picasso’s simultaneous pursuit of disparate styles had enveloped the art world in controversy for several years. Had Picasso progressed or regressed? Was he avant-garde or academic? Revolutionary or reactionary? Critics were divided. These questions speak to the ways in which Picasso’s Fontainebleau output defies categorization and disrupts expectations of how artists evolve.

The exhibition will present four monumental canvases—two versions of Three Women at the Spring and two of Three Musicians—along with other paintings, drawings, pastels, and etchings made during the artist’s brief stay in Fontainebleau. Rarely seen photographs of the studio and the Picasso family will further contextualize the artist’s day-to-day life and artistic practice. The exhibition will also explore new discoveries about the process and experimental spirit that mark Picasso’s work in Fontainebleau.

Organized by Anne Umland, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture, with Alexandra Morrison, Curatorial Assistant, and Francesca Ferrari, former Mellon-Marron Research Consortium Fellow, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death, MoMA’s exhibition is included in the international Picasso Celebration 1973–2023, with the exceptional support of the Musée National Picasso–Paris.

Leadership support for the exhibition is provided by the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation.

Major funding is provided by the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and by Monique M. Schoen Warshaw.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Generous funding for the publication is provided by Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder through The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art. Additional funding is provided by The Morton Neumann Family Foundation.

The Bloomberg Connects digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Publications

  • Picasso in Fontainebleau Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 228 pages
  • Master checklist 0 pages
  • Press release 0 pages
  • Press release 0 pages
  • Press release 0 pages
  • Press release 0 pages

Artists

Installation images

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