Paul Smith reimagines Picasso

A new exhibition at the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai presents the prolific career of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) through the lens of British fashion designer Paul Smith.

Opening to the public on Monday, the exhibition Picasso Through the Eyes of Paul Smith is jointly hosted by the Shanghai museum and the Musee National Picasso-Paris in France. Running until May 3, the exhibition displays 80 original works from the French museum's collection, presenting a half-century overview of Picasso's career.

Spanning oil paintings, charcoal drawings, and other media, it offers one of the most comprehensive and wide-ranging presentations of Picasso's work ever staged in China, according to Li Minkun, chairman of the MAP and deputy general manager of Shanghai Lujiazui Group.

"Last week, we celebrated the opening of the exhibition The Wonder of Patterns: Masterpieces from India, Iran and the Ottoman World from the Musee du Louvre. We are so excited for the collaboration between the Pudong museum and two of the top museums in France, with two exhibitions happening simultaneously, which are different in style but share the same high quality," Li said at the opening ceremony on Dec 18.

Shanghai is the exhibition's only stop on the Chinese mainland, as well as the first stop of its international tour, she said.

The Musee National Picasso-Paris is home to the most extensive public collection of the renowned artist's works, comprising more than 6,000 pieces, which comprehensively covers the entirety of Picasso's professional career and encompasses all the media and materials he used, according to Cecile Debray, president of the museum.

At the time of Picasso's death, a law came into practice in France, stipulating that his heir could settle the inheritance tax by donating his works. The law was proposed based on the circumstances concerning Picasso's heritage, who left behind more than 70,000 items in his studio, Debray says. The majority were transferred to the French national collection shortly after the artist's death on April 8, 1973.