Picasso and the Cinema

Picasso was inspired by the cinema (Charles Chaplin, etc.). The cubistic and the montage connections between Picasso and the cinema are of the essence. - Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece Le Mystère Picasso is one of the handful of the very best films made on painting. The priceless document focuses on Picasso's process of painting: the process is primary, the result is secondary. - Orson Welles's F for Fake includes an affectionate homage to Picasso ("art is a lie that can expose the truth") and cubism. There is an ironic commentary on forgery. Elmyr de Hory created fake paintings in styles of Picasso, managing at first to fool Picasso, himself. Picasso's astonished comment: "I can forge Picasso, myself, as well as anybody". - James Ivory's Surviving Picasso (1996) is based on the story (though not the memoir book) of Francoise Gilot. Anthony Hopkins is great as Picasso, Natascha McElhone is Francoise Gilot, Julianne Moore is Dora Maar, and Joss Ackland is Matisse. Ivory was not allowed to use Picasso's work! The heirs usually deny the permission. The film displays Elmyr de Hory -style fake Picassos in an interesting way. The Guernica sequence is amazing, as we never see the painting. - But if I were to select one film to represent the Picasso inspiration, it would be Jean Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée.

Pablo Picasso at the Ateneum (exhibition)

Pablo Picasso at the Ateneum. Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso in Paris, 18 Sep 2009 - 6 Jan 2010. Ateneum Art Museum, The National Gallery of Finland, Helsinki. Viewed 18 Sep 2009 (in a public viewing on the day of opening). Curator: Anne Baldassari, director of the Musée National Picasso.
"Give me a museum and I will fill it".
As Picasso created 50.000 works, he could fill 250 Ateneums.
In 1979, Picasso's heirs paid their inheritance taxes by donating to the French state a considerable portion of the works of Picasso's private collection. In 1985, The Musée National Picasso was opened to the public. In 2009, it was closed for repairs, and its collections are being displayed around the world.
Over 200 works (paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and photographs) cover the whole French career of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) from 1901 until his death. This is the biggest Picasso exhibition ever seen in Finland.
The idea here is to witness the whole story of the grown-up Picasso first hand: all the periods in one exhibition. It's a great story.
Picasso embraced many isms but was never overwhelmed by any.
He created in many ways, always interested in new approaches, and his curiosity is revitalizing.
He was prolific and did not suffer from inhibitions or self-censorship.
Not all his works are great, but the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Picasso's life work is a great montage.
This exhibition is not a display of Picasso's greatest masterpieces, but it is a well told story, where individual works make sense as a part of the whole.
Room 3: The Young Artist 1901-1907 (Blue Period, Pink Period)
Room 4: Towards Cubism 1907-1909
Room 5: Cubism 1909-1919 (Analytical Cubism, Synthetic Cubism)
Room 12: From Cubism to Classicism 1914-1924
Room 13: Surrealism 1924-1934
Room 15: Surrealism 1930-1935
Room 16: Spain at War 1936-1939
Room 17: Years of War 1941-1952
Rooms 18-19: Prints (pencil, chalk, charcoal, indian ink, copperplate, line etchings, woodblock printing, aquatint washes, lithographs)
Rooms 6-7: Photographs
Rooms 8-9: Pop Art 1946-1970
Room 10: The Last Years 1970-1973
Rooms 24-27: In the Spirit of Picasso (the Picasso influence in Finnish art, curated by Messrs. Erkki Anttonen and Timo Huusko)
Room 23: Picasso's Living Room (designed by Ms. Aamu Song and Mr. Johan Olin)
http://www.ateneum.fi/default.asp?docId=12532