Picasso, replying to Rodin’s famed maxim that sculpture is the art of space, expanded the idea to describe sculpture as the art of intelligence. In this view, the discipline of material became the channel through which the Malaga-born artist stayed in touch with a spontaneity and playful spirit reminiscent of his childhood, a state he never fully relinquished. Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, his grandson, recalled moments when tennis balls would roll from nearby fields as the elder sculptor worked outdoors, moments he later integrated into his creations. Museo Picasso Málaga opens today a major presentation entitled “Picasso sculptor. Matter and body,” the first comprehensive survey of Pablo Ruiz Picasso’s sculptural work in this country and a timely confirmation of the sculptural dimension within the vast body of work by the Málaga-born master. It marks a significant installment in the Year of Picasso, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the artist’s passing.
Until September 10, Palacio de Buenavista hosts a concentrated show featuring 60 sculptures created between 1909 and 1964. The works span a broad range of materials, from iron and cement to wood, plaster, metal, bronze, and even tennis balls. Among the pieces is The Woman Who Proposes, a landmark work in Picasso’s sculpture and a piece the artist once intended for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition. Although it stood in the shadow of the monumental installations that characterized the World’s Fair, it still shines as an iconic representation of Picasso’s three-dimensional thinking. Guernica is called to mind as part of the same era, reminding viewers of the sweeping reach of Picasso’s artistic experiment across media and history.
The sculptural corpus is presented with a focus that foregrounds anecdote less than in some other catalogues. The show invites viewers to observe how Picasso used the human form to probe surface and volume. Works such as Woman with Leaf and Woman’s Head (Fernande) reveal the artist’s deep preoccupation with the human figure and its spatial presence, showing the sculptural exploration that accompanied his painting and drawing across the years. This approach highlights a central interest of Picasso: the human body as a perpetual subject of inquiry and innovation.
Curated by Carmen Giménez, the director of the Museo Picasso Málaga, the exhibition is described as a 100 percent sculptural experience with no preparatory drawings or canvases guiding the dialogue. The emphasis rests on the body and matter as a direct, tactile conversation. Visitors are encouraged to engage with Picasso’s works through their physicality—hands, eyes, busts, and even a skull—creating a dialogue that feels almost immediate and unmediated. In this sense, the show offers a unique opportunity to connect with Picasso’s sculptural practice in a manner similar to standing beside the works in the studio where they were formed.
Eyewitnesses from the artist’s circle describe the sculptural process as a deeply personal one, with the objects sometimes accompanying Picasso in his workshop and remaining within his private circle. Family members recalled a studio life that treated sculptures as kin, objects of affection kept close rather than circulated for public display. Until 1965, when a presidential request brought some favorites to the French Petit Palais for an extended display, many of Picasso’s sculptures resided in relative privacy, largely hidden from the public eye. The move from canvas to three-dimensional form represented a shift in how Picasso’s art was perceived, and the current museum presentation continues that historical revaluation, placing the sculptural face of Picasso at the center of the public’s attention in a dedicated setting that mirrors the artist’s own devotion to matter and form.
For many visitors, the show unfolds as a journey through a different facet of Picasso’s genius. The experience echoes the gradual unveiling of a lifelong curiosity about how volume, gravity, and material interact. The collection’s scope spans decades and includes works that remind viewers of the artist’s early experiments and later explorations of form, weight, and space. The exhibition thus acts as a crucial milestone in reassessing Picasso’s sculptural legacy within a national and international context, and it offers a tangible sense of the continuity between the artist’s early explorations and his later, more monumental statements in sculpture.
Farewells, reunions, tears: the Picassian twilight
The opening to the media conveyed a mood of contemplative twilight as the exhibition focused on the material and the corporeal. Carmen Giménez, the first director of the Museo Picasso Málaga, sat at the table with evident emotion, reflecting on memories and the artist’s enduring ties to his homeland. José Lebrero, the gallery’s current head, spoke of his forthcoming departure at year’s end. Longtime supporters and friends offered expressions of gratitude for the museum’s leadership, while relatives of the artist shared memories that acknowledged the deep emotional resonance of Picasso’s life and work. The moment captured a sense of farewell, and yet the room suggested a continuing, living conversation about Picasso’s sculpture and its place in art history. The dialogue between past and present—between the artist’s private world and the public stage—remains a defining feature of the Year of Picasso and of the ongoing celebration at the Museo Picasso Málaga.