Pablo Picasso is a great artist, a genius who transforms world art and is ahead of his time. Undoubtedly, he is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, who continues to be an example for many authors. Throughout his conscious life, the artist does not stop painting, constantly developing, passing through different artistic styles. Picasso makes a huge contribution to the development of world art and is one of the founders of the Cubism and Surrealism styles. His rich, dynamic and varied creative and life path is filled with many encounters and separations, with friendships, love and death. Because of this, Picasso is the most photographed artist.

From the 1950s, Picasso establishes a genuine working relationship with certain photographers he has personally chosen, such as André Villers, and the last years of his life are eternalized by Edward Quinn.

During the years in which they follow him, the two amazing photographers not only enter his everyday life and work, but also reveal the relationships with his family, relatives and friends. They allow us to enter and peer unhindered into Picasso’s private world. With these unique shots, André Villers and Edward Quinn take us on a remarkable photographic journey through the life of the famous Spanish artist from the 1950s to his death.

The exhibition includes over 86 works from 1951 until the artist’s death in 1973.

Curators: José Félix Bentz and Joan Abelló Juanpere

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André Villers (1930–2016) was born in Beaucourt, France. The chance meeting between Villers and Picasso in a Vallauris street in 1953 when he stopped the artist to take his photograph was the beginning of a great friendship. Villers produced many portraits of the painter, and their relationship evolved into working together, making hundreds of images based on photographic experiments.

Edward Quinn (1920–1997) was born in Dublin, Ireland. He had the good fortune to meet Picasso at a vernissage in Vallauris in 1951. Over the next 20 years, Picasso invited Quinn time and time again to his home, in his studio, and on excursions to the beach. In this way, Quinn had the opportunity to capture on film images of the most unpublished and endearing side of Picasso. Their friendship lasted until Picasso’s death in 1973. The encounter with Picasso had a lasting influence on Quinn, both personally and with regard to his subsequent work. Quinn is the author of several books and films about Picasso.

The exhibition is organized with the assistance of:

Real Cercle Artístic-Institut Barcelones D`Art

The Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in Barcelona

‘St. George’ Association for Friendship and Cooperation between Catalonia and Bulgaria

Embassy of  The Kingdom of Spain in The Republic Bulgaria

Instituto Servantes – Sofia