(by Nicoletta Castagni).
An exhibit is opening Friday at
Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale to celebrate the centennial of
Pablo Picasso's trip to Italy in 1917 with friend Jean Cocteau.
'Picasso - Between Cubism and Classicism 1915-1925' runs
through January 22 and vies to highlight the impact of the trip
on Picasso, who accompanied Cocteau for the staging of the
ballet Parade and painted its curtain, which will be exhibited
for the first time in Rome at Palazzo Barberini.
The organization of the exhibit required "three years of
intense work with curators Olivier Berggruen and Anunciata von
Liechtenstein", said Mario De Simoni, president of the culture
ministry's Ales agency.
Berggruen over the past decade has been studying the
relationship between Picasso and theater, contributing to curate
the show's display of over 100 masterworks and as many documents
from the 1915-1925 period, one of the most creative for the
artist.
When he took the trip in 1917, Picasso was 36 and an
acclaimed artist at the helm of the Cubism movement.
The curator stressed that the artist was perceiving the
crisis of the movement that had made him famous and let Cocteau
persuade him to accompany him in Italy, where he had to meet
Ballets Russes impresario Sergej Djagilev to design the set,
costumes and curtain of the ballet Parade.
Far from the war, Picasso experienced an artistic renaissance
in Rome, getting to know members of the Futurist and
Secessionist movements, said Burggruen while "coming into
contact with Renaissance and classic art" and Italian
traditional iconography, "in particular the masques of
Pulcinella" as he travelled to Naples, Pompeii, Florence and
Milan.
He also met his future wife during his Italian travels, Olga
Khochlova, a dancer in the ballet.
Masterworks on display include Man Seated at Table and
Harlequin and Woman with Necklace, painted in Rome.
Portraits of celebrated dancer and choreographer Leonide
Massine and his wife Olga are also part of the display.
Picasso's take on classicism is documented by the Great
Bather, the Three Women at the Fountain and the Pan Pipes.
Two Women Running on the Beach, an iconic little painting
embodying his neoclassical period, is one of the exhibit's
highlights.
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