Pablo Picasso did not learn to swim, yet a sequence of photographs by his friend Lucien Clergue captures moments along the French coast where movements feel a touch reckless. Other images show the artist in 1965, wearing a dressing gown at home in Notre-Dame-de-Vie, sharing a drink with Jacqueline Roque or watching bullfights, a passion he held dear. The scenes reveal a sincerity in daily life, with Clergue, who lived from 1934 to 2014, pointing to a diary-like record of friendships, shared leisure, and fleeting moments. Emmanuel Guigon, director of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, notes that the exhibition opens with 240 black-and-white photographs from a total of 595 in the center’s collection, which Clergue acquired in 2016.
The tour unfolds through October 10 and begins with Clergue’s intimate portrayal of Picasso, a collaboration that marked its first meeting on April 5, 1953, during a bullfight in Arles, Clergue’s hometown. The 19-year-old photographer, then an aspiring talent, received a request from Picasso to keep sending his photographs. Two years later, the painter invited Clergue to Cannes, La California, to shoot his portrait. Picasso considered that day among the best of his life, attributing the encounter to Clergue’s eye for his work. The imagery evokes motifs linked to Arles, its Harlequin spirit, rehearsals, and the era of destruction wrought by World War II, including the bombardment of Guernica. Clergue explains that carrion and remnants reflected the eerie universe Picasso painted into that period, while the war era drew them closer, as did bullfights.
The exhibition space at the Museu Picasso bears a hall dedicated to the Picasso-Clergue partnership, celebrated here as a testament to the enduring friendship. EFE credits accompany the display.
The bond between the two men continued until Picasso’s death in 1973. In 1978, he returned home at the request of Clergue’s wife Jacqueline, and her photographs capture the painter’s absence, the empty studio, and works stacked for shipping, imbuing the room with a quiet sadness.
The curatorial focus emphasizes photography’s own value and honors Clergue, who, at eighteen, already possessed a vision of the creator. Silvia Domenech, who cocurated the show with Guigon, recalls Picasso introducing Clergue to friends, including director Jean Cocteau, who invited him to participate in the filming of The Testament of Orpheus. That project solidified Clergue’s dedication to professional photography and established him as Picasso’s official photographer. One scene shows Clergue relaxed on set, conversing with Luis Miguel Dominguín before Lucía Bosé and Jacqueline.
A lively portrait emerges of Picasso as caring, uninhibited, and sometimes mischievous—an artist who shared moments with Clergue in what feels like a private museum of life. The catalogue includes images of Paco Muñoz playing trumpet at an antique dealer’s home in 1959, dancing with a flamenco guitarist in 1964, and Brigitte Baer at a gypsy party in 1965. These moments hint at the dynamic, sometimes unruly social life surrounding the artist, and they culminate in the last photographs from 1971, where Picasso appears strong, victorious, vulnerable, shy, tired, greedy, and delighted to be alive.
The parallel exhibition at the Carrer de Montcada museum draws on its own archive, thanks to donations by David Leclerc in 2015. Brigitte Baer (1931-2005), author of the catalog raisonné of more than 2,000 Picasso engravings, is highlighted in this presentation.
Baer’s work on Picasso engravings is framed as a deeply studied, almost obsessive pursuit. Domènech, a curator with Núria Solé Bardalet, stresses her role as an art historian and notes Baer’s meticulous, intelligent approach, which seeks every available detail about each piece.
The exhibition showcases fifty engravings accompanied by cards and handwritten notes that verify Baer’s method. She completed the project after Bernhard Geiser, who published only two volumes before passing away, elevating the scope to seven volumes.
Picasso-Clergue
Barcelona Picasso Museum
Commissioners: Emmanuel Guigon and Silvia Domenech
From 22 June to 20 October 2022
Brigitte Baer. Picasso and his engravings
Barcelona Picasso Museum
Commissioners: Emmanuel Guigon, Silvia Domènech, and Núria Solé Bardalet
From 22 June to 20 October 2022