Pablo Picasso’s painting "Girl on the Ball" appeared in Paris for the first time in 50 years

The Orsay Museum has opened the exhibition “Picasso. Blue and pink periods ”(“ Picasso. Bleu et rose ”), prepared jointly with the Picasso Museum in Paris and dedicated to two most important periods in the artist’s work. In the French capital presented work from the collection of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, extremely rarely leaving the walls of the museum, is “The Girl on the Ball” by Pablo Picasso.

During the USSR, the painting was exhibited several times abroad, in the history of modern Russia, a masterpiece left the country only once: in 2011, as part of the cross Year of Spain and Russia, the painting was shown at the Prado Museum in Madrid. This time the journey has a special symbolic meaning: “Girl on the Ball”, written by Picasso in Paris, has only been at home once since its inception - in 1971 at the exhibition “Picasso in Soviet Museums”. Thus, the picture will be presented in the capital of France for the first time in 50 years.

The work “Girl on the Ball”, written in 1905, is often called the transition between the blue and pink periods: at that time the artist was a frequent visitor to the Medrano circus, the characters of his paintings are harlequins, roving actors, acrobats. Picasso captivates the life of circus artists: on the one hand, romantic and free, on the other - poor and hungry.

In 1913, the painting “Girl on the Ball” was bought at the Daniel-Henri Canweiler Gallery in Paris by Moscow businessman and collector Ivan Morozov. After the revolution, work, along with other works from his collection, was nationalized and in 1948 transferred to the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin.

For the exhibition “Picasso. Blue and pink periods "restorers of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin performed a set of special works to ensure the safety of the painting during its transportation and exhibit at the Orsay Museum.

The collaboration of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin with French museums will not end there: on November 20, 2018, the Picasso & Khokhlova exhibition will open at the Pushkin Museum, dedicated to the muse and wife of Pablo Picasso. The exposition plans to show works of painting and graphics illustrating the fate of Olga Khokhlova from the collection of the Paris Picasso Museum, foreign museum and private collections.

Exhibition “Picasso. Blue and pink periods ”can be visited in Paris from September 18, 2018 to January 6, 2019. From February 3 to May 26, 2019, in a slightly modified composition, she will be represented at the Beyeler Foundation near Basel (Switzerland).