The co-founder of the Cubist movement and the creator of constructed sculpture and collage. The artist who left over 5,000 artworks over his 90 years. A man who changed modern art forever — Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Now, to celebrate the 140th anniversary of his birth, meet his art in Seoul.
Since May 1, the Hangaram Art Museum in the Seoul Arts Center has been hosting Picasso, Into the Myth, an exhibition holding 110 works by Picasso. These pieces include acrylics, printmaking, ceramics, collages, etchings, and sculptures, all from Musée Picasso in Paris, France. Many works here are being shown for the first time in Korea including “Massacre en Corée” — “Massacre in Korea” — which is the third anti-war painting Picasso painted, following “Guernica” and “The Charnel House”.
The exhibition is divided into seven sections, each with a certain theme. “From Barcelona to Paris, Era of Revolution” displays Picasso’s works in his famous Blue Period and Rose Period. “Return to Order, Classicism and Surrealism” shows Picasso’s lesser known Neoclassical and Surrealistic paintings. The third section, “Suite Vollard”, is a room filled with the eponymous Suite Vollard etchings. The next part, “New Perspective, Ceramics” exhibits Picasso’s ceramic works including plates and vases with shapes and designs that make people think “Ah, Picasso”. The next two sections, “Picasso and Women” and “War and Peace, around Massacre en Corée”, hold collections of works by Picasso with the theme women and war, respectively. The last and seventh part of the exhibition, “Last Passion” displays Picasso’s work from his final years. The exhibition has both Korean and English descriptions, but does not allow any photos or videos.
The exhibition itself was interesting mostly because it is about Picasso. With 110 works in different art forms, the vast content of the exhibition alone is worth the visit. However, it feels like Hangaram Art Museum failed Picasso with its mediocre composition. The first two parts of the exhibition categorize Picasso’s work by time, but the next two parts suddenly categorize his works by the type of artwork. This pattern changes again in the fifth and sixth parts, which are categorized by theme. To make things worse, the museum fails to put the right artwork in the right theme, such as the random goat sculpture and painting in the sixth section about war and peace. The fifth and sixth sections, with the exception of a couple of works, are filled with artworks that have no clear connections with each other let alone with the overarching theme of the section. After those hectic changes in time, type of art, and theme, the exhibition suddenly returns to another time-based section: art from the final years of Pablo Picasso.
Surely, the curators of Hangaram Art Museum must have had some reason to organize the exhibition in this manner, but as an average person who visited just to enjoy the already hectic Picasso, I was only distracted by the disorganized structure of the exhibition. This exhibition contrasts with the Andy Warhol Art Exhibit I visited last month, where the placement of the art piqued visitors’ interest. The repeating photo zones in the Andy Warhol exhibit also played along with Andy Warhol’s art style. In a sense, Picasso, Into the Myth also follows Picasso’s art style — if curators were aiming for the chaotic and confusing composition of Picasso’s art.
So why would the curators organize the exhibition like this? One reason may be because there were just too many pieces of art to display. Trying to organize 110 works of Pablo Picasso — the Pablo Picasso famous for his prolific activity and wide range of art styles — into seven categories would be difficult, if not impossible, to do. Perhaps, for me, the crowd also played a part in making this exhibition seem more disorganized than it actually was. However, despite the circumstances, it seems like the curators’ attempt to organize art works into categories made it more disorganized. Had the curators chosen a single standard to categorize the works, may it be time, type of art, or theme, the exhibition wouldn’t have been this confusing.
Picasso, Into the Myth will be open until August 29 at the Hangaram Art Museum for 20,000 KRW per visitor. I recommend going there after June, when there should be less people. Who knows, a more tranquil environment might change the experience to a better one.