ANDROS - Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art
Vasilis & Eliza Goulandris

2004 exhibition: Picasso and Greece

"The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians,
of the great painters who lived in others times,
is not an art of the past;
perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was."

, 1923

Although Pablo Picasso never visited Greece, ancient greek civilization has left visible marks in the work of the great Spanish artist.

For the first time in Greece, at the Museum of Modern Art in Andros island from 27 June till 26 September 2004, carefully selected works of the artist will be presented, to clearly manifest the influences of ancient Greece in the work of Picasso.

Since his studies in Barcelona he was painting models of ancient sculptures, and later, under the influence of persons like Jean Cocteu, he turned to classical sources and spent a lot of time in Louvre Museum studying the ancient civilizations.

After the years of Cubism, Picasso returns again to the greek world and to classicism. He travels to Italy and creates his most important works of his neo-classical period.

In the '30s he creates sculptures inspired by archaic forms and techniques, and after the war he is systematically engaged in ceramics production, motivated by the ancient art.

The exhibition is under the auspices of the Cultural Olympiad.