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The world-renowned Pablo Picasso is one of the most influential artists of all time and a co-founder of the Cubist movement. He was incredibly prolific during his 79-year-long career. Now, thanks to the Musée Picasso Paris and its archivists, a treasure trove of his art, writings, and memorabilia can easily be accessed through a digital archive. The museum has already uploaded almost 60,000 items to the database including 19,000 photos. They also plan to digitize at least another 200,000 documents. Many of these pieces have never been available to the public before, including items that were donated by Picasso’s estate directly to the museum.
The archive was launched along with the opening of a new exhibition at the museum. Iconophage or Consuming Images explores the plethora of diverse reference material that influenced Picasso. He even collected plenty of media himself. From African masks to American comic strips, Picasso’s expanded reservoir of references that broke away from academic art informed revolutionary modernist art.
As noted in the exhibition’s program, “A frequent visitor to the Louvre, Picasso accumulated a lifetime’s worth of photographs, postcards, reproductions, posters, magazines, and illustrated books in addition to the works in his personal collection. This wealth of material, which provided the artist with a rich iconographic repertoire, reflects his new way of thinking about the image, liberated from the domain of art and from historical time.”
Coming later this year, the Picasso Studies Center will also open up at the museum, and the digitization was spurred by the same mission to encourage research by scholars and artists. Whether you’re heading to Paris or staying home, you will be able to learn more about Picasso than ever before.
The Musée Picasso Paris’ Iconophage runs now until September 15, 2024.
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso has undoubtedly shaped art history.
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Now, thanks to the Musée Picasso Paris and its archivists, nearly 60,000 of his works of art and memorabilia are viewable anywhere you have internet access.
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There are still plans to upload at least another 200,000 documents.
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Musée Picasso Paris: Website | Instagram
h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]
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