Picasso Perpignan : The Inner Circle 1953-1955

The exhibition Picasso-Perpignan: The Inner Circle, 1953-1955 celebrates the reopening of the newly extended and renovated Musée de l''Art Hyacinthe Rigaud. The mansion, which houses the museum, was for Picasso the setting for a new period in his life. He was at the height of his glory, courted from all sides. While he rested in Perpignan, he tended to spend his time at bullfights and parties rather than work in the studio prepared for him by Jacques de Lazerne in his mansion. This exhibition corresponds to a personal, aesthetic break for Picasso, who then faced up to the great masters. His break-up with Françoise Gilot in 1953 and the beginning of his relationship with Jacqueline deeply affected the artist, who needed the healthy breaks he took in Perpignan with his friends, the Lazernes. The exhibition chronicles the relationship between Perpignan and Picasso in 1953, 1954 and 1955 through major works, documents and photographs of the artist in the city, many of them previously unseen.