The exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay was conceived with the Picasso and Orangerie museums in Paris as well as the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, which will also show the works early next year. "It's the first show in France to consider a period overlooked by art historians, allowing a chance to re-evaluate the early Picasso," said Laurence des Cars, the Orsay's director. The show begins with the Blue period, marked by the artist's frequent travels between Paris and Barcelona, discovering the possibilities of avant-garde expressionisms while still under the more classic influences of his father, an art teacher. An early work includes "Yo Picasso" (I Picasso), a vivid self-portrait showing him confident at his easel. Many of the Blue period works are nearly monochromatic and depictions of poverty and old age recurring subjects, including prostitutes with a child languishing in a prison cell.

Source: The Local September 17, 2018 03:22 UTC