Picasso: Ecce Homo

The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo presents an exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso’s representations of the human figure. Titled Picasso: Human Figures, the show brings together thirty-four works, including paintings, drawings, prints, and documents, drawn from the museum’s collection and important loans from Japanese institutions, with the aim of exploring one of the most enduring and multifaceted themes in Picasso’s art: the image of the human being. For Picasso, portraying the human figure meant engaging with the fundamental themes of existence - life and death, love, war, desire - through a continuous process of formal experimentation. From early academic exercises in Barcelona to Cubist inventions, from the melancholy lyricism of the Blue Period to the erotic and theatrical play of his later years, the exhibition retraces the evolution of a gaze that constantly renewed itself across the artist’s life. The exhibition opens with portraits of friends created around 1900 for Picasso’s first solo show at the Café Els Quatre Gats. These are followed by images of the poor and marginalized from the Blue Period, the suspended acrobatics of circus performers, and the geometric stylizations of Analytical Cubism, where the human form is fractured into planes and angles. His work with the Ballets Russes and travels in Italy during the 1910s led Picasso toward a neoclassical phase filled with monumental female figures, often inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity. A significant section is devoted to portraits of the women who played key roles in Picasso’s life, from Marie-Thérèse Walter to Dora Maar, from Françoise Gilot to Jacqueline Roque, portrayed in ever-changing styles and techniques. These variations reflect shifting emotions and the complexity of their relationships. Another section focuses on the recurring "painter and model" theme that dominated Picasso’s late period, taking on autobiographical and contemplative dimensions. Some of the works have been examined using scientific imaging, revealing reworkings, hidden layers, and underdrawings that document Picasso’s creative process as one of constant revision and layering. One example is Seated Woman with a Small Round Hat (1942), where a bright, elaborate hat was painted over and replaced by a more subdued one, altering the overall tone of the composition. Curated by Azu Kubota, the exhibition offers a rich and layered perspective on Picasso’s oeuvre, highlighting how the depiction of the body and face served as a continuous space for transformation and invention throughout his artistic journey.