Unprecedented exhibition on Picasso and daughter Maya

Some works by Pablo Picasso remain to be discovered. His daughter, Maya, donated nine to the museum that bears her father's name in Paris. They are presented on the ground floor, among other works by the master, while upstairs, a specific exhibition is dedicated to the relationship between the artist and his daughter (from April 16 to December 31, 2022) . Blonde, like her mother, Diana, is the granddaughter of Pablo Picasso. She did not know her famous grandfather, who died in 1973, a few years before her birth. She guides us in this exhibition of which she is co-curator. Her mother, Maya, entrusted her with great family relics, like a tiny shoe. " It was my grandfather's very first slipper, who gave it to my mother. He kept everything, almost obsessively, because he was aware that everything represented a kind of archaeological memory of his life ," says Diana Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso. In the windows, Picasso's first shoe rubs shoulders with his overcoat, his sandals and even his slippers. More surprising, strands of hair and nail tips that belonged to the very superstitious Pablo. The exhibition explores the relationship between the master and his daughter. It opens with portraits of Picasso's four children: Paul, known as Paulo, Maria de la Concepcion, nicknamed Maya, Claude and Paloma.
Maya, his "illegitimate" daughter He met this pretty blonde at the exit of Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Maya is the first daughter of the Spanish master, an illegitimate child born of his passion for the young Marie-Thérèse Walter. She was only 17 years old. Legend has it that he told her: "We will do great things together". When Maya was born, he was 45 years old. His son Paulo, born of his marriage to the dancer Olga, 14 years old. He announces his arrival in 1935 in an enigmatic engraving presented in the exhibition: Minotauromachy. When she was a baby, he represented her in magnificent drawings. Subsequently, he will often sketch his daughter in profile because it is from this angle that she resembles him the most. Maya's sketchbooks presented in small showcases keep pretty traces of their games. Picasso painted little circus scenes or everyday objects for his daughter. The little one severely grades her dad's productions: between 10 and 12 out of 20. " We are strict in the family " laughs her granddaughter. Picasso also used all kinds of materials to make small toys for her: dolls, figurines, small theaters, birds in the style of Japanese origami. They reflect a great complicity between the father and his granddaughter. Picasso painted 14 portraits of Maya. 11 are brought together in the exhibition. Colorful and luminous canvases which contrast with other works painted by the Minotaur during the same period, marked by the Spanish Civil War and the approach of the Second World War. Embellished by numerous photos, this synthetic exhibition also gives a glimpse of the blended family of Pablo Picasso. see in France Culture: Valerie Gaget Video on Exhibition