For those eagerly awaiting the day when France reopens to U.S. travelers, you can still get your Paris museum fix in three U.S. cities in the meantime. The Musée national Picasso-Paris is currently loaning more than 150 works from its Calder-Picasso exhibit to museums in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston in 2021.
The exhibit, which looks at the connections between the work of two of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Pablo Picasso and Alexander Calder, is open (and unfortunately sold out) in San Francisco at the de Young Museum through May 23.
There’s little to no likelihood of the exhibit being extended in San Francisco because the art will need to move to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta for its run that goes from June 26 through mid-September. After that, it will open at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston on Halloween and stay there until the end of January 2022.
Pablo Picasso, “Reclining Nude” (“Nu couche”), 1932, oil on canvas, Musée nationale Picasso-Paris, Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. © 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Photo © RMN–Grand Palais – Adrien Didierjean.
Even though the artists were contemporaries and both lived in Paris in the 20th century, they were not known to be friends and only met a few times. Nevertheless, Calder-Picasso provides an in-depth look at how both men used the absence of space in their art by juxtaposing their paintings, drawings, photographs, and of course, sculptural work. Visitors can expect to see several of Calder’s famed mobiles as well as his wired figures like 1931’s Croisière alongside Picasso’s 1932 painting Reclining Nude and the 1961 sculpture Woman with Outstretched Arms.
Conceived of by the artists’ respective grandsons, the exhibit was initially shown at the Musée national Picasso-Paris from February 19 to August 25, 2019, and at the Museo Picasso Malaga from September 24, 2019, to February 2, 2020.
How to get tickets to Calder-Picasso in the U.S.
Alexander Calder, “Triple Gong,” ca. 1948, brass, sheet metal, wire, and paint, Calder Foundation, New York; promised gift of Holton Rower. © 2021 Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York/Art Resource, New York.
San Francisco
When: February 27–May 23, 2021
Where: de Young Museum
Buy Tickets: Sold out, deyoung.famsf.org
Atlanta
When: June 26–September 19, 2021
Where: High Museum of Art
Buy Tickets: $17 (children under 6 free), high.org
Houston
When: October 31, 2021–January 30, 2022
Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Buy Tickets: Special exhibition tickets sale dates are still tbd, mfah.org
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