From Cubism to Neoclassicism, from expressive distortion to extreme synthesis, the human body runs throughout Pablo Picasso’s oeuvre as a field of experimentation and reinvention. Picasso, the Figure, on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the Musée national Picasso-Paris and France Muséums, explores this ongoing transformation of the figure in the Spanish Master’s work, bringing together paintings, drawings, and sculptures from different periods. The exhibition offers a rare overview of the evolution of Picasso’s visual language through the universal theme of the human figure. The selection spans from the early 1900s to his later years, revealing how the artist continuously reworked forms and meanings, overturning the conventions of figurative representation. Among the highlights are two paintings from the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s permanent collection: Woman with a Mandolin (Miss Léonie Seated), dated 1911, an example of Cubist experimentation, and Portrait of a Seated Woman (Olga) from 1923, which reflects the neoclassical phase that followed the trauma of the First World War. These are shown alongside a loan from the Musée national Picasso-Paris, Woman Sitting in Front of the Window (1937), which reflects the dramatic tension of the years leading up to Guernica. The exhibition thus offers a cross-sectional reading of Picasso’s production, showing how the figure is never static but constantly redefined, deformed, celebrated, or deconstructed. Through this journey, visitors discover not only the stylistic evolution of Picasso but also his ability to explore - through the body - emotion, history, politics, and identity.
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