07/10/2016
The Picasso Portraits at the National Portrait gallery, open now until 5 February 2017, is an exhibition not to be missed. It is the first large-scale exhibition devoted to Picasso's portraiture since 1996 when his portraits were shown in New York and Paris.
The portraits shown in this exhibition are of himself and those from his intimate circle including his lovers, his dealers, composers and other artists. He worked in many modes as well as many different styles, all capturing the essence, as he saw them, of the person he portrays. The works shown in the exhibition range from well known masterpieces to those never seen before in Britain.
The highlights include the extraordinary cubist portrait from 1910 of the German art dealer, Daniel- Henry Kahnwieler and literally all the portraits of the women in his life. Picassos continually references the old masters including Rembrandt in his work.
A tip when you are taking younger children. I would recommend going straight to the last and the largest room on the far left of the entrance where they will get the genius of Picasso before they get art fatigue. I would then retrace my steps and take them back to the room straight ahead of the entrance to show them the self portraits of Picasso and in a room near by, the wonderful cubist portrait of the German art dealer Daniel- Henry Kahnwieler.
