Picasso and the Artist's Jewellery, Exhibition, Picasso Museum, Barcelona: 20 May-26 September 2021

Painting, sculpture, engraving, ceramics, decoration or even poetry ... There are few artistic practices that Pablo Picasso didn't experiment with. In the spring of 2020, the Museu Picasso of Barcelona will focus on one of his lesser-known productions in an exhibition dedicated to artistic jewellery.

From shell necklaces made for Dora Maar to the beaches of Juan-les-Pins in 1937, to authentic goldsmith work from the nineteen sixties, to ceramic pieces modelled in Madoura's workshop, jewellery was for Picasso the umpteenth field of work, a new range of possibilities for him. Dora Maar was one of his earliest muses in this subject, and the solar necklace made shortly after his encounter is the precursor to the summer shell necklaces.

For Pablo Picasso, jewellery was the most personal ways of expressing himself. These objects, usually intended for the people closest to him, were coveted as treasures that he refused to reproduce in large quantities or even exhibit. It would be necessary to wait until the late 1960s to see a series for sale. For the artist, these objects were for sure something much more than just ornaments. The jewel has always been endowed with extraordinary expressive potential, sometimes a talisman, for others, a charm. The jewel is impregnated with this magic of intimacy.

Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque were not the only recipients of these minuscule sculptures, they were also often destined to the people closest to him, to children or friends. You will be able to see the jewellery made for Claude, Paloma, Maya and even for Sonia Mossey and Angela Rosengart in the photographs taken by Jean Nocenti, Dora Maar, Robert Capa, André Villers and Edward Quinn. It is no coincidence that Picasso, when drawing, painting or sculpting his friends, would adorn them with the same jewels he had made for them. The circle will be closed from the completion of the object to the translation on paper, and the exhibition will be able to present, together with these portable treasures, the paintings, drawings and photographs that enhance them.

The exhibition will also expand the proposal by presenting a selection of works from one of the most important international collections of artist jewellery. From surrealism to contemporary productions, from André Derain to Niki de Saint-Phalle, to Miquel Barceló, Lucio Fontana and Louise Bourgeois, the collection of jewellery gathered together Clo Fleiss is an example of diversity and masterpieces.