Paris, France — A remarkable exhibition is unfolding in Paris on the Left Bank of the Seine presenting some 100 drawings by Pablo Picasso executed between 1903 and 1972. The majority of the drawings in the exhibition, being held at the Galerie de l’Institut, are being shown to the public for the first time and revolve around the figurative, notably the painter’s last wife and muse, Jacqueline Picasso.   Entitled Picasso. Drawing 1903-1972, the show is being presented by Marc Lebouc and the gallery and part of the show has been conceived as a tribute to Jacqueline. Several « versions » of her appear throughout many of the drawings: wearing a hat, reclining, with folded legs, sleeping. 

Picasso is regarded as a master of the medium and he drew with anything and everything including, pencils, crayons, chalk, pastels, ink, charcoal, felt pen, and onto anything and everything including cardboard, wood, canvas, sheet metal, sheets and notebooks of paper of various thicknesses and textures. But he also drew on anything he could grab when an artistic moment occurred like a tablecloth in a restaurant, a page of a newspaper, accounts books or wrapping paper. In many ways his inspiration for his other works in diverse mediums emanated from his drawings which were akin to works in progress. « I start one idea and then it becomes something else, » Picasso once told the German-born, French art collector, gallery owner and writer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler.

The show which is largely colourful and joyful is being held in the two historic exhibition spaces of the Galerie de l’Institut, and a new space that was inaugurated for the Picasso show which is on until December 20th, 2025. 3bis rue des Beaux-Arts/ 12 rue de Seine/ 16 rue de Seine, 75006 Paris, France.  https://galerie-institut.com/en/ ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette