Picasso Museum Barcelona explores painter's family life in 'intimate' exhibition

Picasso Museum Barcelona has unveiled a new exhibition, 'Growing Up Between Two Artists – A Tribute to Claude Picasso,' which will run until October 26.

The exhibition offers an emotional journey through the childhood of Claude and Paloma Picasso alongside their parents, Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot, in the south of France.

Led by Paloma Picasso – president of the Picasso Administration and a museum board member – the exhibition showcases both iconic and never-before-seen works, offering a unique and intimate look into the painter’s family life.

The exhibition highlights a key period in Picasso's creative life and also features, for the first time in Spain, an extensive space dedicated to the work of Françoise Gilot.

Toys and costumes

Dedicated to Paloma Picasso's brother, Claude, the exhibition celebrates the "joie de vivre" during the postwar years in a southern French village known for its ceramic art, explained museum director Emmanuel Guigon.

"You see a life where Picasso was creating constantly, and Gilot, too. But they also had a rich family life," Guigon added.

The exhibition uncovers lesser-known aspects of Picasso's family world, including toys he made for his children.

"There are pictures of them dressed up as musketeers, playing," Guigon said.

One standout piece is a sculpture of a monkey, created from a toy car gifted to his son. Picasso is said to have "stolen" it to incorporate into the artwork.

"There are so many details, so many works, and some never seen before, many of them kept in the homes of the children and heirs," the director explained.

Imagination and creation

At the exhibition's opening, Paloma Picasso – the curator and daughter of the artist – remarked that there are always new things to discover about her father.

"There was no distinction between major works and the toys he made for us out of scraps of paper," she said.

"The ability to take everything seriously, but with a smile, is something that left a deep impression on me. You have to put your whole soul into everything you do," she said.

Paloma Picasso said that she always saw her parents "first and foremost as artists" and understood from a very young age that witnessing their creativity was "a privilege."

"It's not easy being Pablo Picasso’s daughter – there's no way to escape that," she reflected.

She praised the exhibition for revealing the family's "most intimate" side.

"The relationship we had with my father was highly creative. Everything was about imagination and creation. For a child, that's the best possible environment to grow up in," she said.

Her parents, she added, were two artists who were constantly taking risks because they were never content and always pushing boundaries