Art History News: PICASSO: THE ROYAN SKETCHBOOKS

Museo Picasso Málaga

31 January – 30 April 2025

Picasso: The Royan sketchbooks brings together eight pencil and ink sketchbooks, alongside gouaches, photographs, paintings, drawings and poems by the artist, which together reveal how Picasso continued to give free rein to his creative drive in times of war, specifically in the years 1939 and 1940.
Following the outbreak World War II Picasso moved to Royan, a seaside town on the French Atlantic coast where he lived for a year. Curated by Marilyn McCully and Michael Raeburn, the exhibition is complemented by a learning/discovery space that contextualises this phase in the artist’s life and career.
The exhibition, which can be seen from tomorrow, 31 January, to 30 April 2025, is organised by the Museo Picasso Málaga in collaboration with the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (FABA), together with the Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Regional Government of Andalusia.

Views of the exhibition "Picasso: The Royan Sketchbooks". Architectural design by Cécile Degos.
© Museo Picasso Málaga | To download the image, click on it.

Between September 1939 and August 1940, Picasso produced eight sketchbooks of pencil and ink drawings while he was living in the French town of Royan, to where he moved with Dora Maar and accompanied by Jaime Sabartés following the outbreak of World War II. Marie-Thérèse Walter and Maya, Walter’s daughter with Picasso, had already been living in the town for a couple of months. Far from the French capital, this seaside town with its 19th-century architecture seemed a safe place at the time. Disturbed and restless due to the war, during those eight months Picasso made the 500-kilometre journey between Royan and Paris on several occasions in order to ensure that, as a foreigner, his documents were in order and also to check on the safety and storage of his works and even to participate in preparations for an exhibition of his drawings.

Marilyn McCully, the exhibition’s curator, considers that the nature of Picasso's artistic activity changed, largely as a result of the limited availability of materials: “Thus, in order to develop his ideas in sequence, a characteristic of his working method, he devoted much of his creative energies to drawing.” Possibly due to the difficulty of finding art materials in Royan, Picasso purchased several sketchbooks and notebooks of ordinary paper, both lined and graph paper, at the local Hachette bookstore. Their small size meant that he was able to take them with him to his hotel room, to the villa and even to outdoor café tables. This was habitual with Picasso who, like many artists, used sketchbooks throughout his career to jot down visual ideas, either references to previous works or new ideas for future compositions.

Views of the exhibition "Picasso: The Royan Sketchbooks". Architectural design by Cécile Degos.
© Museo Picasso Málaga | To download the image, click on it.

The themes of the Royan sketchbooks range from still life, a genre that Picasso employed during the war with particular drama, to formal studies of female figures that evoke Dora Marr, his companion at the time and a source of artistic inspiration during their stay in the town. The almost complete absence of portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter and her daughter Maya, whom he saw daily, is striking. Among the sketchbooks exhibited at the Museo Picasso Málaga is one that also includes poetic writings by Picasso, a form of expression with which he experimented for the first time in 1935.

Another factor that could have influenced this preference for drawing is the artist’s work space. Having initially installed himself in a dining room of the Villa Gerbier de Jonc where Marie-Thérèse and Maya were also living, in early 1940 Picasso rented a third floor with sea views in the building Les Voiliers. Although there is no certainty regarding exactly how many canvases the artist painted during his time in Royan, four works included in the exhibition reflect his pictorial activity and creative drive during that period: Bust of a Woman with her Arms crossed behind her Head (1939) from the collection of the Museo Picasso Málaga; Three Lambs’ Heads (1939) loaned by the Museo Nacional Centro Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Woman dressing her Hair (1940) from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; and Café in Royan (August 1940) loaned by the Musée Picasso in Paris. For the exhibition’s curator Michael Raeburn: “Where previously he had drawn on the simplification of tribal art to escape from an outworn tradition of objective imitation, he now tried to harness the inner power of these same models to penetrate the subjective identity of heads and figures.”

On 14 June 1940 Paris was occupied by the German forces and on 24 August that year Picasso returned permanently to the city, recovering a few months later the work he had left in Royan. In 1945 the building in Royan where he had installed his second studio was destroyed in a bombing raid.

Picasso: The Royan sketchbooks, organised in collaboration with the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso and with an installation design by Cécile Degos, contextualises these sketchbooks by presenting them alongside other works created by the artist in Royan, in addition to documentation relating to that period. Drawings, gouaches, paintings, photographs and poems by Picasso together reveal a prolific stage in his life and artistic career.

Views of the exhibition "Picasso: The Royan Sketchbooks". Architectural design by Cécile Degos.
© Museo Picasso Málaga | To download the image, click on it.

LEARNING/DISCOVERY SPACE

A special learning/discovery space has been created for Picasso: The Royan sketchbooks in which the content on display is contextualised through texts accompanied by reproductions of documents and photographs, shown next to original material of the period.

This space is divided into three sections: firstly, a chronology of the time that Picasso spent in Royan. It includes the most significant moments in the artist's life during this period as well as relevant historical events. Secondly, information on the city of Royan at the time, illustrated by a plan of its urban layout: streets, buildings, green spaces and the importance of its location on the Atlantic coastline. Finally, this space includes a selection of brief biographical accounts of individuals close to Picasso at this period.

The room’s learning function is completed with an area for consulting publications relating to the content of the exhibition.

Views of the exhibition "Picasso: The Royan Sketchbooks". Architectural design by Cécile Degos.
© Museo Picasso Málaga | To download the image, click on it.

CATALOGUE AND PARALLEL ACTIVITIES

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, generously illustrated with the works on display, in addition to texts by the two curators, documents, postcards and photographs of the time. This 150-page publication will be on sale in Spanish and English in the Museum’s bookshop and from its online shop.

PICASSO: LOS CUADERNOS DE ROYAN

31 enero – 30 abril 2025

01 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Cuaderno 202

Royan, 3-9 noviembre 1939

Lápiz, tinta negra y aguada

28 hojas de papel vitela; 26 encuadernadas y 2 sueltas

Cubierta entelada

11 × 17 cm (cubierta)

Museo Picasso Málaga. Donación de Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.35-1 - MPM1.35-28

Foto: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

01 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Sketchbook 202

Royan, 3-9 November 1939

Pencil, black ink and wash

28 folios of wove paper; 26 bound sheets and 2 loose sheets

Cloth cover

11 × 17 cm (cover)

Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.35-1 - MPM1.35-28

Photo: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

02 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Busto de mujer con los brazos cruzados detrás de la cabeza

Royan, 7 noviembre 1939

Óleo sobre lienzo

81× 65 cm

Museo Picasso Málaga. Donación de Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.6

Foto: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

02 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Bust of a Woman with Arms Crossed behind her Head

Royan, 7 November 1939

Oil on canvas

81 × 65 cm

Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.6

Photo: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

03 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Mujer peinándose

Royan, junio 1940

Óleo sobre lienzo

130,1 × 97,1 cm

The Museum of Modern Art, Nueva York. Legado de Louise Reinhardt Smith, 1995

03 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Woman Dressing her Hair

Royan, June 1940

Oil on canvas

130.1 × 97.1 cm

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Louise Reinhardt Smith Bequest, 1995

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04 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Estudio para Busto de mujer con los brazos cruzados detrás de la cabeza

Del Cuaderno 202, h.16r

Royan, 3-9 noviembre 1939

Lápiz, tinta negra y aguada sobre papel vitela

11 × 17 cm

Museo Picasso Málaga. Donación de Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.35-16/R

Foto: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

04 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Study for Bust of a Woman with Arms Crossed behind her Head

From Sketchbook 202, f.16v

Royan, 3-9 November 1939

Pencil, black ink and wash on wove paper

11 × 17 cm

Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.35-16/R

Photo: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

05 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Dibujo a partir de Retrato de una joven princesa, del Maestro de Moulins

Del Cuaderno 202, h. 2a

Royan, 3-9 noviembre 1939

Lápiz, tinta negra y aguada sobre papel vitela

11 × 17 cm

Museo Picasso Málaga. Donación de Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.35-1

Foto: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

05 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Drawing after the Master of Moulins, Portrait of a Young Princess

From Sketchbook 202, f.2r

Royan, 3-9 November 1939

Pencil, black ink and wash on wove paper

11 × 17 cm

Museo Picasso Málaga. Gift of Christine Ruiz-Picasso. MPM1.35-1

Photo: Rafael Lobato © Museo Picasso Málaga

CAT. 01

06 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Busto de hombre con jersey de punto a rayas

Royan, 17 septiembre 1939

Gouache y tinta negra sobre papel

21,9 × 13,2 cm

Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Madrid

06 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Bust of Man in Striped Jersey

Royan, 17 September 1939

Gouache and black ink on paper

21,9 × 13,2 cm

Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Madrid

$\\Client\D$\00_BABOT\4 ROYAN\CD ROYAN\CAT. 12.jpg$

07 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Café en Royan

Royan, 15 agosto 1940

Óleo sobre lienzo

97 × 130 cm

Musée national Picasso-Paris. Dación Pablo Picasso, 1979. MP187

/ Mathieu Rabeau

07 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Café at Royan

Royan, 15 August 1940

Oil on canvas

97 × 130 cm

Musée national Picasso-Paris. Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. MP187

/ Mathieu Rabeau

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08 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

En el ruedo

Royan, 29 diciembre 1939

Pluma y aguada de tinta sobre papel verjurado

39 × 46,5 cm

Würth Collection, Alemania

08 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

In the Arena

Royan, 29 December 1939

Pen and ink and wash on laid paper

39 × 46.5 cm

Würth Collection, Germany

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09 Dora Maar (Henriette Theodora Markovitch) (1907-1997)

Picasso posando junto a Mujer peinándose

Les Voiliers, Royan, verano 1940

Gelatina de plata

6,2 × 6 cm

Musée national Picasso-Paris

09 Dora Maar (Henriette Theodora Markovitch) (1907-1997)

Picasso standing next to Woman Dressing her Hair

Les Voiliers, Royan, summer 1940

Gelatin silver print

6.2 × 6 cm

Musée national Picasso-Paris

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Plano de Royan (de Souvenirs de Royan, vol. I): 1. Hôtel du Tigre / 2. Villa Gerbier de Jonc / 3. Les Voiliers / 4. Café des Bains

Syndicat d’Initiative-ESSI-de Royan

Town plan of Royan (from Souvenirs de Royan, vol. 1) with marked locations of: 1. Hôtel du Tigre; 2. Villa Gerbier de Jonc; 3. Les Voiliers, and 4. Café des Bains

Syndicat d’Initiative–ESSI–de Royan

Art History News

Saturday, February 1, 2025

PICASSO: THE ROYAN SKETCHBOOKS

Museo Picasso Málaga

31 January – 30 April 2025

Picasso: The Royan sketchbooks brings together eight pencil and ink sketchbooks, alongside gouaches, photographs, paintings, drawings and poems by the artist, which together reveal how Picasso continued to give free rein to his creative drive in times of war, specifically in the years 1939 and 1940.

The exhibition, which can be seen from tomorrow, 31 January, to 30 April 2025, is organised by the Museo Picasso Málaga in collaboration with the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (FABA), together with the Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Regional Government of Andalusia.

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