4495/5000 V Pushkinskom muzeye otkryvayetsya vystavka o lyubvi ispanskogo khudozhnika i russkoy baleriny «Pikasso & Khokhlova» GMII im. A.S. Pushkina sovmestno s Natsional'nym muzeyem Pikasso v Parizhe i Fondom podderzhki iskusstva Al'miny i Bernara Ruis

Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin, together with the Picasso National Museum in Paris and the Foundation for the Support of the Art of Almina and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (FABA), present the exhibition Picasso & Khokhlova. The main heroine of the exhibition is the first wife of Pablo Picasso, Olga Khokhlova.

The love story of the Spanish artist and Russian dancer will appear before the audience in the artist's works, photographs, letters and things from the personal archive of the Picasso family. The exhibition will include both well-known works, and those that have never been shown to the Russian public. The general sponsor of the exhibition was VTB Bank.

The first exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova was held at the National Picasso Museum in Paris in 2017. To the 100th anniversary of the artist’s and his first wife’s acquaintance, the museum presented the Olga Picasso exhibition, which tells about the period of life spent by the spouses together, as well as the influence of Olga and Russian culture on the master’s work. Today, the exhibition takes the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, known for its large-scale exhibitions by Picasso. The museum’s collections contain works of the artist and unique photographs that Olga Khokhlova sent to her relatives in Russia in the 1920s.

In the Moscow exhibition "Picasso & Khokhlova" more than 200 exhibits - from monumental panels to pieces of furniture, letters and cards. Most of the paintings and drawings are included in the collection of the National Picasso Museum in Paris - the world's largest center for studying the artist's work. Another key participant is the FABA Foundation, whose head is Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the grandson of Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova, for the first time in Russia will show a family collection of unknown works of the master, as well as archival materials found in Olga's trunk, where they were kept for many years. The study of the archive allowed restoring the history of relations between Olga and Pablo and creating a unique exhibition project.

The exhibition aims to show viewers the work of Picasso in the context of his personal history. The exposition is based on the development of subjects connected with Olga and themes in the artist's work - from neoclassical portraits and images of motherhood to surrealistic visions. Each topic is covered in one of the eleven sections of the exhibition.

Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova met in Rome in 1917, while working on the ballet “Parade” as part of the Russian Ballets by Sergei Diaghilev. In 1918 they were married in an Orthodox church in Paris. Olga Khokhlova became the first official wife of the artist and the main model of the new, neoclassical period of his work. The avant-garde rhythm of works by Picasso was pacified by a general “return to order” in art and life. The artistic style of Picasso changed, and his position in society became different: together with Olga, they now represented secular people, acquiring a new social status. Together with peace and quiet, Picasso's artwork included epic, monumental forms inspired by classical art. This, the most intense stage of relations between Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova, will be presented in the White Hall of the museum. Here you can see the portraits of Olga, united by two themes - “The Muse and the Model” and “Melancholia”. Part of the exhibition titled "Change of scenery" tells about the social salons, apartments and castles, where the Picasso family spent their time. The section "Maternity" and "Paul" will reveal the home world of Olga, who was completely dedicated to her son Paulo, who was born on February 4, 1921.

In the mid-1920s, the attitude of Picasso to the family changed. New hobbies in life and in art have complicated the relationship of Pablo and Olga. Another was the image of his wife in the works of the artist. This period, which ended with a gap, is presented in complementary thematic sections of the exhibition. The history of meetings with a new sweetheart - in the "Workshop" and "Bathers"; change of attitude to Olga - in "Metamorphosis"; social masks and hidden drama in amateur filming in the section "On the screen". The ambiguity of the relationship of Picasso and the women around him is reflected in the plots “Corrid and Crucifixes”, where the artist identified himself with the bull-torero victim, and, finally, in “Eros and Thanatos”, where the works united by the theme of the minotaur - the tyrant and the victim, - The main alter ego master in the 1930s. Picasso and Khokhlova finally broke up in 1935, remaining, however, officially married until the death of Olga in 1955.

November 20, 2018 to February 3, 2019