Picasso and Paper
25 January - 2 August 2020
Main Galleries, Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts
Mon–Weds: closed
Thurs–Sun: 11am–4pm
Tickets £20. Concessions available. Become a Friend to see for free. Everyone, including Friends of the RA members, must book a ticket before arriving.
Friends of the RA go free
Lead supporter
Last chance to see ‘Picasso and Paper’ – our major exhibition spanning the artist’s 80-year career and featuring 300 works, including studies for ‘Guernica’ and a 4.8-metre-wide collage.
For Picasso, paper was both a tool to explore his ideas and a material with limitless possibilities. He experimented with everything from newsprint and napkins to decorative wallpaper. He spent decades investigating printmaking techniques, sourcing rare and antique paper from as far as Japan – and all without losing his compulsion to draw on every last scrap.
From effortlessly expressive drawings that led to towering sculptures to the colossal collage, Femmes à leur toilette, Picasso’s work with paper spans his entire lifetime and showcases his constant drive to invent and innovate.
You will see Picasso’s creative process first-hand in remarkable documentary footage of the artist at work, studies for Guernica, and sketchbooks where the seeds of revolutionary masterpieces first took shape, including Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
Letters, illustrated poems and photographic collaborations with Dora Maar will also offer glimpses into the artist’s life.
Immerse yourself in Picasso’s world of paper and discover how – with this everyday material we know so well – he found the means to explore the furthest reaches of his creativity.
Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris.
Mon–Weds: closed
Thurs–Sun: 11am–4pm
Tickets £20. Concessions available. Become a Friend to see for free. Everyone, including Friends of the RA members, must book a ticket before arriving.
Friends of the RA go free
Lead supporter
Supporters
Lead supporter
Supported by
Supported by
Supported by
Supported by
In partnership with
Lead supporter City of Málaga
Reviews
"This spectacular show displays a relentless creativity."
The Guardian
"A paper trail that leads you through the fabulously creative and fantastically fertile career of the world’s most famous modernist."
The Telegraph
“This big, magnificent exhibition explores his relationship with paper.”
Evening Standard
"A show to sweep you up into a vortex of energy."
The Times
Take virtual wander around the exhibition
If you can't make it to the RA, you can experience it from home in this meditative, 40-minute experience. Sit back and enjoy the exhibition. Installation views of the Picasso and Paper exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. © Succession Picasso/DACS 2020 Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris #PicassoandPaper
Watch the trailer
Immerse yourself in Picasso’s world of paper and discover how – with this everyday material we know so well – he found the means to explore the furthest reaches of his creativity.
Gallery
Photo © David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts © Succession Picasso/DACS 2020 Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso, La Vie (Life), Barcelona, 1903. The Cleveland Museum of Art
Pablo Picasso, La Vie (Life), Barcelona, 1903. The Cleveland Museum of Art Photo © David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts © Succession Picasso/DACS 2020 Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris
Photo © David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts © Succession Picasso/DACS 2020 Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris
Photo © David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts © Succession Picasso/DACS 2020 Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris
Photo © David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts © Succession Picasso/DACS 2020 Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris
Six things to know about Picasso
He claimed that he could draw before he could speak, and as a child Picasso certainly displayed a precocious artistic ability. The son of an artist, he was schooled in academic drawing techniques from a young age and was admitted to art school at just 13. Later, while visiting an exhibition of children’s drawings, Picasso enjoyed the irony of noting that “When I was their age I could draw like Raphael, but it has taken me a lifetime to learn to draw like them.”
Together with fellow cubist pioneer Georges Braque, Picasso made the breakthrough of introducing pasted paper and ephemera into his art early in the 20th century. It was a revolutionary innovation on many levels. Not only were these the first works in mixed media, but by smashing the dividing line between ‘high’ art and found objects drawn from mass culture, they paved the way for many of the century’s key artistic ideas. Picasso soon took the discovery of these so-called papiers collés still further by developing them into three-dimensional cubist guitars: art’s first assemblages.
Picasso hated to throw anything away and built up an enormous personal archive, which today allows us a remarkably detailed understanding of his life. Amongst Picasso’s collection was a vast array of paper items, from labels, newspapers and visiting cards destined to be recycled as components in his art, to rare and antique papers sourced from as far away as Japan.
Picasso was more than capable of working extremely quickly, producing as many as three paintings in a day. Yet he could also take extraordinary care and time in the preparation of a single artwork, like his era-defining masterpiece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. It was no easy gestation, as 16 full sketchbooks and dozens of preparatory studies on paper attest. Even when at last the final painting emerged, he maintained for decades that it was still unfinished.
Picasso’s enquiring spirit led him into new artistic territory throughout his long career. His exploration of photography was typical of his boundary-pushing approach. He tried out experimental techniques and joined forces with a number of avant-garde photographers, drawing over photographs and incorporating collage. Amongst Picasso’s most interesting photographic works are collaborations with his then-lover, the artist Dora Maar.
In 1935, Picasso found himself at an impasse in his professional and personal life. For the only time in his career he ceased painting, drawing and sculpting, instead dedicating himself (with some success) to poetry. Some months later Picasso did of course return to visual art, but he continued to write for many years and even penned two surrealist plays.
Dip into the Picasso and Paper catalogue
If you’re missing our much-loved exhibition programme, you can explore our beautifully illustrated catalogues from the comfort of home. This beautiful catalogue accompanies the Picasso and Paper with six essays exploring the themes of the exhibition.