Palo Alto — Seeing Picasso, Maker of the Modern, Nov 2, 2019–Feb 16, 2020

[Drunk Monk]

Spain wrecked me for Picasso. From my Spain thread:

But the next day was even fuller.  We toured the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which goes from medieval to impressionism.  More El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, but now add Pissaro, Monet, Renoir, Lautrec, Gauguin, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and the two masters I really came to Spain to see - Picasso and my personal favorite, Dali.  In fact, Spain was a Dali pilgrimage for me, a major check off the bucket list, as I've worshiped his work since high school, back when I fancied myself an artist.  Tara ruined still life paintings for me by commenting that those were the first food selfies.  What is really nice about the Thyssen is that if you start at the top and work your way down, it's chronological, so you can see the progression.  The renn painters and their scientific realism, such craftsmanship, and then along comes Van Gogh to blow the doors off it all with such color.  Standing in front of such masterpieces, it's like compressing an epic novel or a major film into one comprehensive snapshot.  I get chills sometimes as my eyes cross the canvas.  It's ecstatic.  After that, we made it to the Reina Sofia, a museum of modern art (all three museums are right next to each other) - Man Ray, Magritte, Ernst, Klee, Rivera - some serious Picasso and Dali.  This houses Guernica as it's centerpiece.  I must say the Guernica was a lot more faded in person, not as moving as I expected.  It's really a dull grey.  However the preliminary works and development documented alongside it were really interesting.  I never realized before how Ralph Steadman was really just bad Picasso.  Picasso had those strokes going on long before Steadman.  And the Bauhaus stuff was really amusing, rekindling my interest in that odd genre.  But here's where Dali started to really emerge.  Where the Thyssen had a major piece, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, it's a small one.  The Sofia had several larger pieces like the Great Masturbator and the Enigma of Hitler.  So awesome.  Then, after gorging ourselves on two solid days of art, we went to see Despartar De La Fuerza - Star Wars.  It was in English with Spanish subtitles.  It was like going from the richest cultural treasures to the epitome of pop culture.  What an incredible first three days in Madrid.

The next day, we hit the Museo Picasso, which was excellent. Organized by time progression, his development was clear. Picasso came from an artist family and as a teen was already a master of Renaissance portraiture.  He went to art school but left to study at the Prado. Having seen so much Velazquez and Goya, the influence was very evident.  This museum only holds a few of his blue period, but then, after a trip with Cocteau, makes that leap to Cubism.  Picasso's Meninas studies were fantastic - again, good to see after seeing the original at the Prado.  Great museum, very intimate.

Nevertheless, I'd love to see this. Maybe it'll make me nostalgic for Spain. We'll see if I can make it over there within the month.