Entrance Hall

There is a side to Picasso beyond painting. This exhibition explores this little-known aspect of the Master of Málaga’s vast body of work. The exhibition reveals an important and little-known facet of Pablo Picasso’s work: the creative spirit surrounding graphic arts, photography and ceramics. Picasso held novelty and learning in the highest regard. Picasso undeniably became the master of experimentation, passionate about innovation and formal freedom. Graphic arts, ceramics, photography and illustration bear witness to these paths of learning that Picasso so enjoyed exploring.

Picasso wrote: “I always do what I don’t know how to do, so that I can learn how to do it”. He was constantly seeking intelligent ways to engage with the essence of learning. It is certain that we progress by constantly improving and going beyond what we already know how to do. True evolution lies in being confronted with what eludes us. It is drawing closer to all those things we cannot control but which, once mastered, promise to transform us. Picasso practised a wide range of artistic forms and remained constantly open to new discoveries and collaborations. It is in this way that his work is enriched not only by new techniques and styles, but also by new artistic forms.

Intertwined Destinies

The exhibition also delves into the history of three iconic figures of 20th-century art, closely linked to Pablo Picasso: Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Dora Maar. Their lives and works became intertwined over the course of the century, shaped by chance, encounters, influences and, at times, conflicts. They have all left a profound mark on the history of modern art, and their journeys, though unique, reveal a fascinating constellation of connections. To shed light on Picasso’s journey, the exhibition recounts their intertwined destinies. For between admiration, mutual inspiration, and artistic or political rivalries, these four figures maintained complex ties. You will discover their shared paths, from the places where they created to their commitments, friendships or disagreements, and the themes they shared.

Creating ceaselessly

Pablo Picasso had a vital need to create, an almost physical urgency to work tirelessly. For him, the act of creation was neither a profession nor a discipline, but an inner necessity, a way of existing in the world. Drawing, painting, sculpting or engraving punctuated his days like a continuous breath. Picasso did not seek inspiration: he provoked it through work, convinced that creative momentum arose from repeated gestures and constant experimentation. This frenetic productivity, marked by doubts, breaks and fresh starts, was the driving force behind his work and one of the keys to his genius.

To satisfy this essential need to create, Picasso had to constantly nourish his creative spirit. He had to continually renew his environment to tirelessly spark fresh inspiration. His frequent moves, his eclectic interests ranging from painting to ceramics, his numerous romantic conquests with women of such contrasting characters, the variety of his subjects, and his successive stylistic revolutions were all means of regenerating his creativity and avoiding complacency.

1881: birth of Pablo Picasso in Málaga. He grew up in an artistic environment thanks to his father, a drawing teacher.

1895: the family moved to Barcelona. Picasso enrolled at the School of Fine Arts and already showed exceptional mastery.

1897–1898: studies in Madrid, where he discovers the great masters at the Prado Museum, but quickly turns away from academic art.

1900: first trip to Paris, a major artistic centre.

1901–1904: Blue Period, marked by the death of his friend Casagemas; melancholic paintings, dominated by blue.

1904–1906: Rose Period; moves to the Bateau-Lavoir, life as an artist in Montmartre, themes of the circus and street performers. Beginning of his relationship with Fernande Olivier (around 1904).

1907: creation of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a revolutionary work that paved the way for Cubism.

1908–1912: Analytical Cubism developed with Georges Braque; fragmentation of forms and a proliferation of viewpoints.

1912–1919: Synthetic Cubism; invention of collage and a return to colour and more legible forms.

1918: marriage to Olga Khokhlova; a more classical period in his painting.

1920s–1930s: diversification of styles; distorted figures, surrealist influences, expressive tensions. Meeting and relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter (from 1927).

1936–1943: relationship with Dora Maar, who documented, in particular, the creation of Guernica.

1937: creation of Guernica for the Paris World’s Fair; a major work against war.

1940–1944: remained in Paris during the German Occupation, a difficult but still creative period.

1946: settles in the south of France, notably in Antibes; a new light in his work.

1948–1955: works in Vallauris, collaborates with the Madoura studio (Suzanne Ramié); significant development of his ceramic work.

1953–1973: relationship with Jacqueline Roque, whom he married in 1961.

1950s–1960s: numerous variations on the great masters (Velázquez, Manet…), free and inventive painting.

1961: moved to Mougins with Jacqueline Roque, his final partner.

1973: Picasso’s death in Mougins, leaving behind an immense body of work that profoundly transformed the history of art.

LEVEL 0 – ground floor

Picasso and women

Picasso’s relationships with women were often marked by complex psychological dynamics. He projected his own struggles onto them. He perpetually oscillated between love and suffering. Picasso simultaneously explored the themes of passion and the pain of love.

Picasso had numerous relationships with women: Fernande Olivier, Olga Khokhlova, Marie-Thérèse Walter, Dora Maar, Françoise Gilot, Jacqueline Roque, to name the main ones. As the driving force behind his creativity, these encounters enabled him to develop an aesthetic that was constantly renewed. His various stylistic phases, from Cubism to more abstract periods, reveal a constant quest to capture the essence of womanhood. From his mother to his wives and partners, each woman played a unique role in shaping his art and his identity. Their impact went beyond mere inspiration. They were creative partners. These women nourished his creativity, enabled him to explore new artistic avenues and left an indelible mark on his work.

Unlike Miró and Dalí, for Pablo Picasso, women were a source of inspiration to be exhausted, and an object to be mistreated and dominated. Picasso did indeed harbour a dark side: that of a man who was manipulative, cruel and violent towards those around him, and in particular towards the women who shared his life. Picasso’s life was punctuated by conquests and acts of great brutality.

Picasso associated himself with the image of a Minotaur—monstrous and savage—dominating the women around him. In Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a mythical monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, imprisoned by Minos in the labyrinth. The Minotaur is a recurring figure in his work, as are the killings of bulls during bullfights. The mythical monster is always depicted having the upper hand over a woman. He thus paints the violence and cruelty he inflicts on his partners. But he also goes to great lengths to destroy their potential artistic careers. Fernande and her work as a model, Olga and ballet, Dora and photography, Françoise and painting. The latter wrote: “when I began to have success, he took offence.”

Dora Maar

Pablo Picasso met Dora Maar in 1935, thanks to the Surrealist poet Paul Éluard. Dora’s presence—intellectual, spiritual, mysterious and deeply surrealist—immediately captured Picasso’s interest. An extremely independent and politically engaged woman, and a photographer recognised within the surrealist circle, Dora was close to Man Ray, Brassaï and André Breton. From the moment they met, Picasso was fascinated by her sharp mind and artistic talent.
She offered him something radically different: emotional depth and an intense intellectual connection. The relationship with Dora Maar was deeply intimate, blending passion, pain and creative intensity. It had profound repercussions on their art, their psychology and their respective identities. Dora Maar also regularly photographed Picasso’s creative process, notably during the creation of Guernica.

Dora was a source of intellectual inspiration and a creative collaborator. Unlike his previous partners, who were often mere models or passive spectators, Dora possessed a creative spirit equal to Picasso’s. She became his favourite ‘muse’, though he did not leave Marie-Thérèse for her. Picasso led a double life, which he did not even bother to hide, readily taking them both on holiday—one to one hotel, the other to another—and devoting specific days of the week to each of them.

Little by little, Picasso made Dora Maar his possession, manipulating her and isolating her to such an extent that she gave up photography. To Dora, the painter would utter these harsh words: “You don’t attract me, I don’t love you. Or rather, I do, in the way I love a man. ” He is now suspected of having beaten her. Picasso humiliated her daily; he struck her, sometimes until she lost consciousness. Dora Maar was relegated to the role of a mere muse. Yet she was an exceptional artist in her own right.

Their relationship revealed complex aspects of their lives, touching on both creation and destruction. Dora eventually ended up in a psychiatric hospital due to the psychological abuse inflicted by Picasso, and died in seclusion in 1997.

Madoura

In 1938, Suzanne and Georges Ramié founded and ran the Madoura studio in Vallauris. From the outset, they gave the studio a unique direction, based on technical excellence, modern forms and an openness to contemporary artists. After a hiatus due to the Second World War, Madoura experienced a decisive boom from 1946 onwards, when Pablo Picasso settled in Vallauris and began working with ceramics at the studio.

Suzanne Ramié played a central role in this venture: a ceramist, technician and the workshop’s true driving force. She supported the artists in refining forms, decorations and firing techniques, translating ideas into practical solutions. Georges Ramié, an art historian and administrator, was responsible for the organisation, promotion and institutional recognition of Madoura, overseeing the production, signing and marketing of the works.

Madoura became a creative laboratory where artists and craftsmen such as Picasso, but also Chagall, Miró, Braque, Matisse, Derval, Capron, Picault and many others. The studio introduced a new vision of ceramics, free from the hierarchies between fine art and decorative art, and played a decisive role in the international recognition of contemporary ceramics in the 20th century.

Suzanne Ramié

Picasso met Georges and Suzanne Ramié in 1946 in Vallauris during an exhibition. He admired Suzanne Ramié’s work on traditional forms. She repurposed utilitarian pieces, using them as a canvas. This was a new field of experimentation for Picasso, who would work both on painted glazes and on the sculptural dimension of ceramics. Picasso thus worked directly on pieces shaped by Suzanne Ramié, who also sold them under her own name, generally covered in a subtle mixture of glazes of the same hue.

Using a gourd created by Suzanne Ramié, Picasso devised a large blue insect. From bulbous vases with two handles, he created a bird or a faun’s mask. In a pot, he carved a face in relief. On round dishes typical of the Mediterranean, he painted a sun or an owl. To create these designs, he sometimes used scrap pieces from the studio. He even salvaged shards, which he turned into ‘archaeological’ fragments. Bullfighting was a major subject. Picasso painted bullrings on round dishes, lending a swirling dynamism to the scene. Between 1947 and 1971, Picasso produced over 3,500 clay pieces and numerous multiples.

Jules Agard

From 1947 onwards, Picasso worked regularly in the studio and needed a dedicated potter. Agard naturally secured the position. He remained “Picasso’s potter” for 22 years . A discreet yet essential collaborator, Agard was involved in the technical execution of certain ceramics and pieces related to the studio’s production. At Madoura, Picasso did not merely decorate existing forms. He transformed volumes, repurposed objects and pushed materials to their limits. Jules Agard’s role, like that of other craftsmen in the studio, was to translate this sometimes radical inventiveness into fired, solid and reproducible objects, without diminishing their visual impact. This collaboration perfectly illustrates Picasso’s method in Vallauris: a collective endeavour, based on dialogue, where the craftsman becomes a true creative partner in the service of a work in constant reinvention.
Jules Agard left Madoura in 1970 and devoted himself until the end of his life to his own work at the Poterie des Noisetiers, in the Vallauris countryside

Robert Picault

A close friend of Picasso, Robert Picault was one of the key figures in the post-war revival of ceramics the war in the region, and was at the heart of the Vallauris ceramics movement. From 1946 onwards, Picault played a decisive role in introducing Picasso to the Vallauris pottery community and facilitating his meeting with Suzanne and Georges Ramié, founders of the Madoura workshop. A talented photographer,
Robert Picault took numerous photographs of Picasso’s ceramics, thereby illustrating this new field of experimentation, blending form, design and material.

Beyond this role as an intermediary, Robert Picault shared with Picasso a common taste for formal freedom, humour and the transgression of traditional conventions. An inventive ceramist himself, Picault was part of the collective effervescence of Vallauris, where artists and craftsmen worked in an atmosphere of constant emulation. Picault’s presence helped to create an environment conducive to exploration, in which Picasso could master ceramic techniques without academic constraints. This relationship, founded on friendship and trust, illustrates just how inseparable Picasso’s ceramic work is from the human and artistic network of Vallauris.

Jean Derval

Jean Derval occupies an important place in the history of the Madoura studio in Vallauris, where he arrived in 1947, just as Pablo Picasso was developing his ceramic work there. Within the studio run by Suzanne and Georges Ramié, Derval played a full part in the creative effervescence that made Madoura a unique place of collaboration between artists and craftsmen.

Picasso and Jean Derval did not collaborate directly on the same pieces, but worked side by side, drawing on observation, dialogue and mutual inspiration. Derval, through his sense of volume, colour and firing, contributed to the quality and inventiveness of the studio’s output, whilst Picasso revolutionised the conventions and hierarchies of ceramics. Their simultaneous presence at Madoura illustrates an exceptional moment where artisanal skill and artistic invention converged. At Madoura, Derval developed a personal style based on the stylisation of forms, the expressiveness of the decoration and a bold use of colour and glazes.

Jean Derval left Madoura in 1949 to set up his own business, whilst remaining firmly rooted in the Vallauris community. His time at Madoura thus marked a decisive period in his career, establishing him as one of the leading figures in Vallauris ceramics.

Dominique Sassi

Dominique Sassi had the immense privilege of beginning his career at the age of 18 at the Madoura workshop in Vallauris in 1954. He belongs to that generation of artisan potters who played an active role in the day-to-day running of Madoura during Pablo Picasso’s time there. Above all, he played a key role in developing the studio’s collections under the direction of Suzanne and Georges Ramié. Dominique Sassi’s role was primarily technical and operational: shaping, preparing the clay, overseeing firings and monitoring the glazes. At that time, Madoura operated as a highly specialised collective workshop, where each artisan possessed specific expertise in the service of often experimental forms.
Picasso’s presence imposed particular demands: last-minute changes, reworking after firing, and variations in glaze or decoration. Craftsmen such as Sassi ensured the technical feasibility of these experiments, in a constant dialogue between artistic invention and technical constraints. Dominique Sassi’s work was fully integrated into the production chain that enabled the creation of the original ceramics and Picasso editions of the early 1950s.

Lithography

Lithography occupies a central place in Pablo Picasso’s work, as it allowed him to explore a style of drawing that was at once free, direct and experimental. This technique, invented in the late 18th century, is based on the principle of the repulsion between water and oil. The artist draws on a limestone slab using a grease pencil or ink, and the image is then printed onto paper. Unlike engraving, lithography allows for a gesture very close to drawing, almost spontaneous, which perfectly matches Picasso’s creative energy.
Picasso devoted himself to it particularly from the 1940s onwards, notably thanks to his collaboration with the printer Fernand Mourlot in Paris. In Mourlot’s studio, he discovered the full potential of the technique and pushed its boundaries. He did not merely use lithography as a simple means of reproduction. He transformed it into a veritable laboratory for experimentation. He worked directly on the stone, modifying the image as he went along, and printed several successive states of the same composition, allowing the evolution of his work to be followed step by step. Lithography thus became a tool for visual analysis as much as a means of expression.

In his lithographs, Picasso plays with the contrasts between black and white, line and surface, solid and void. He also exploits the possibility of producing multiple copies, which allows for a wider dissemination of his work, whilst maintaining a high artistic quality. Through this technique, he once again demonstrates his ability to renew traditional practices and transform them into modern, free and inventive forms.

Fernand Mourlot

From 1945 onwards, Pablo Picasso took a keen interest in lithography. It was during that year that he met Fernand Mourlot, a master lithographic printer in Paris who taught him the tricks of the trade. As with every artistic genre he practised, Picasso left his personal mark on lithography. Franck Bordas, Mourlot’s grandson, testifies to this: “In just a few months of almost daily visits to his printer, Pablo Picasso completely modernised lithography, a technique that was rather conventional. In the evenings at home, he made transfer papers; during the day, he worked on the stones. He also worked on zinc plates. Essentially, he exploited every technique of lithography with inventions that frightened the technicians but which worked”. The famous Dove of Peace is a lithograph that was produced on zinc and worked with petroleum, a product completely forbidden in lithography.

In his lithographs, Picasso uses every shade of black to give his subjects a psychological depth. He employs every intensity, from a fully coloured background that subtly brings out the drawing to a simple pencil stroke intended to sketch a face or a shape. The shades of black offer Picasso as many possibilities as colours do. Pierre Daix speaks of “engraved painting”.

LEVEL 2 – framework

Madoura

Joan Miró also worked at the Madoura studio. He worked there on an occasional and very limited basis, without settling there permanently like Picasso. He produced a few experiments in the late 1940s, following the studio’s opening to modern artists by Suzanne and Georges Ramié. These experiments remain marginal in his oeuvre. For Miró, Madoura was a place of exploration, not a central studio. He was interested in it primarily for the direct relationship with the material, with glazes and fire, resonating with his visual language made up of signs, symbols and elementary forms. Subsequently, Miró developed his ceramic work much further in collaboration with Josep Llorens Artigas, notably in Gallifa and later in Barcelona, a collaboration that became fundamental to his monumental work.

For Miró and Dalí, ceramics was never merely a decorative craft. Through clay, fire and glaze, they rediscovered the primal elements, those they loved to master in order to impose their visions upon them. Collaborating from the 1940s onwards with ceramists in Spain and France, they subverted traditional forms—plates, vases, tiles—by infusing them with their recurring motifs: dreamlike symbols for Miró—melting clocks, ambiguous faces—and distorted religious symbols for Dalí.

LEVEL 3 – carpentry

Franco

The relationship between Pablo Picasso and the Franco regime was marked by radical opposition. Deeply hostile to Francoism after the Spanish Civil War, Picasso refused to return to live in Spain whilst Franco remained in power. Exiled in France, Picasso became a symbolic figure of defeated Republican Spain. Until his death in 1973, he maintained an uncompromising distance from the Franco regime, making his art a space for moral and symbolic resistance.

Guernica denounces, in black and white, the Nazi bombing of the small Basque town. Traditional Spanish symbols abound. The bull and the horse evoke a metaphorical bullfight. Picasso categorically refused to return to Spain as long as Franco lived. He declared that “painting is not meant to decorate apartments; it is an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.” The Franco regime nevertheless attempted to co-opt his work posthumously, organising exhibitions despite his anti-Franco convictions.

Miró symbolises silent resistance. In 1937, he created El Segador for the Spanish Pavilion at the World’s Fair. It depicts a rebellious Catalan peasant with a sickle and traditional cap, a true metaphor for popular resistance. Miró lived in “internal exile” in Majorca during the Franco era. His Catalonia was “doubly afflicted”. The Catalan language was banned there and political autonomy abolished. Miró maintained a discreet but constant anti-Franco stance.

Unlike Picasso and Miró, Dalí was a controversial and unapologetic collaborator.
He publicly declared that Franco was the “greatest living hero of Spain”. Dalí was received personally at the palace in 1956 and awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic in 1964. He went so far as to mourn the dictator’s death in 1975 “more than he had mourned his mother” . This illustrates his metaphysical fascination with the “mythical figures” of absolute power, beyond conventional moral considerations.