Walking Into Picasso's World: Paul Smith Transforms a Master's Legacy at MAP
The year-end international blockbuster exhibition "Picasso Through the Eyes of Paul Smith" has been unveiled at the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP).
As the first stop of the global tour and the sole venue in China, the exhibition is co-organized by MAP and the Musée national Picasso-Paris. The exhibition adopts a contemporary perspective and presents seminal works spanning Pablo Picasso's entire career.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) stands as a colossus of 20th-century culture, a revolutionary figure who transcended the conventional role of the artist. As a founder of Cubism and a central force in modern art, he relentlessly absorbed and transformed influences, forging entirely new artistic paths.
While an iconic figure in contemporary fashion, British designer Paul Smith, with his broad vision spanning fashion, art, industrial design, and lifestyle, is regarded as a major driving force in today's creative culture. Invited to serve as Artistic Director of this exhibition, the man infuses it with a new way of seeing within a contemporary context.
This exhibition develops from "Picasso Celebration: The Collection in a New Light," organized by the Musée national Picasso Paris in 2023 on the 50th anniversary of the artist's death. Now the two museums have jointly selected 80 seminal works – including oil paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, and prints on loan from the collection of the Musée national Picasso-Paris. It traces the Picasso's monumental journey across more than ten sections, revealing the full spectrum of his iconic phases: from the profound melancholy of the "Blue Period" and the tender narratives of the "Rose Period," through the radical fragmentation of "Analytical" and "Synthetic Cubism," to the psychological intensity of his "Surrealist" inquiries, the powerful anti-war statements, and the audacious, unrestrained experiments of his late career.
Rejecting the "white cube" exhibiting mode, Paul Smith constructs an immersive scenography using color, patterns, stripes and objects to create a rhythmic resonance between artworks and space. Smith approaches Picasso not as an art historian, but with a designer's intuition and a contemporary sensibility. He has transformed the exhibition space into an immersive and theatrical environment.
By deploying bold colors, dynamic stripes, and evocative spatial arrangements, Smith creates a rhythmic dialogue between the artworks and their setting, allowing visitors to literally "walk into" Picasso's creative universe.
Stepping into the exhibition hall, visitors would first encounter Picasso's iconic "Bull's Head" (1942), which also made its debut in China. The work exemplifies Picasso's genius for transforming everyday objects –here, a bicycle saddle and handlebars – into enduring art.
"The Reading" is one of the spotlights at the exhibition. Created in 1932, it is a sensual portrait from his Marie-Thérèse Walter period, which inspires the graphic stripe motifs that Smith extends onto the gallery walls.
Key works like "Portrait of a Man" (1902–1903) from the "Blue Period" reveal the master's early emotional depth, while later series, such as his reinterpretations of Manet's "The Luncheon on the Grass," demonstrate his lifelong dialogue with art history.
The exhibition also highlights his innovative ceramic works from Vallauris, where he playfully reshaped traditional vessels into vibrant faces and figures.
"What I hope most of all is that the exhibition will really speak to a young audience, who will see this as a three-dimensional exhibition of color, optimism and lateral thinking," said Paul Smith, who presented himself at the opening ceremony.
"My wish is that it will encourage them to be part of this creative world. I think I'm right in saying that at one point Picasso said that he went through life hoping he could continue to paint like a child because of the openness a child has. Identically, I always describe the room in which I'm sitting now, which is full of things that are beautiful, kitsch, expensive, no-cost, not as a childish room but a child-like room, as in it's full of things that make your mind work. What I love about children is that they're so honest, which is why I hope this naive curation of the exhibition by someone who doesn't know a lot about art or the artist will be so refreshing. It's about enjoyment and loving the man's work even if you're not a specialist or don't often go to the museum."
Date: Through May 3, 2026, 10am-9pm
Admission: 100 yuan (US$14.2)
Address: 2777 Binjiang Ave | 滨江大道2777号
