Picasso – El Greco a large special exhibition at the Kunstmuseum, Basel

In a large special exhibition, the Kunstmuseum illuminates the encounter of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) with the old master El Greco (1541– 1614), born Doménikos Theotokópoulos in Crete. Masterworks by both artists are juxtaposed in some forty pairings, tracing the course of one of the most fascinating dialogues in the history of art. Prestigious loans from across the globe are assembled around a core of Picasso masterworks from the museum’s own collection.

El Greco’s unmistakable painting style won him considerable fame in his day. Soon after his death, however, his work was largely forgotten. It was only around 1900 that an El Greco revival was launched. The young Picasso was instrumental to this rediscovery. His engagement with the Greek-Spanish master not only went far deeper than has previously been assumed but also lasted much longer. El Greco’s influence is just as palpable in Picasso’s works from the 1930s and 1940s as it is in the earlier Cubist paintings. Even at the end of his life, Picasso continued to reference El Greco. Not only does the show open up new perspectives on two towering artists of their times. It also offers fresh insight into their importance as a constellation for the development of avant-garde art in the twentieth century.

[from the press release] 

Curated by Carmen Giménez, with Gabriel Dette, Josef Helfenstein and Ana Mingot

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Elective Affnities:

Picasso and El Greco

Toward Cubism

“Repeatedly I am asked to explain how my painting evolved. To me there is no past or future in art. If a workof art cannot live always in the present it must notbe considered art at all. The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was.”

Pablo Picasso, 1923

(From an interview with Marius de Zayas, as quoted in: Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art (Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 1984), p. 264.)

“Furthermore, it is the realisation that counts. From this point of view, it is true that Cubism is Spanish in origin, and it was I who invented Cubism. We should lookfor Spanish influence in Cézanne… Observe El Greco’s influence on him. A Venetian painter but he is a Cubistin construction.”

Pablo Picasso. 1960

(As recalled by Romuald Dor de la Souchère, in: Picasso in Antibes (New York, 1960), p. 14.)

El Greco and Cubism after 1910

“I have a feeling that Delacroix, Giotto, Tintoretto, El Greco, and the rest, as well as all the modern painters, the good and the bad, the abstract and the non-abstract, are all standing behind me watching me at work.”

Pablo Picasso

(As quoted by Hélène Parmelin, in: Picasso Plain (London, 1959), p. 77.)