Biggest Picasso exhibition in China opens

SHANGHAI: Paris’s Picasso museum on Monday opened the biggest exhibition of works by the renowned Spanish artist ever to be staged in mainland China, organisers said.


The three-month exhibition at the China Pavilion at the former site of the Shanghai World Expo features 48 paintings spanning the life of Pablo Picasso, who pioneered the cubist movement, as well as sculptures and prints.


“We have been trying to find a way to open a show in China,” Anne Baldassari, director of Paris’s National Picasso Museum, better known as the Musee Picasso, told AFP in Shanghai shortly before the opening.


“It’s a way for us to educate two or three generations of the Chinese public.”The Musee Picasso is closed for a nearly two-year renovation, allowing several cities around the world – including San Francisco, Sydney and Toronto – to display pieces from the collection.


Sponsor Tix-Media, a privately-owned Shanghai exhibition company, said it cost nearly 1.0 million euros (around $1.4 million) to bring the works to the commercial hub.Proceeds from the global tour will help offset the more than 50 million euro renovation of the museum, which will triple the area for the collection, she said.