A Pablo Picasso exhibit in Paris explores the influences of earlier masters
on the iconic artist.

PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 7, 2008) REUTERS -
Originality is rarely an orphan.
"Picasso and the Masters," an exhibit that opens Wednesday
(October 8) at the Grand Palais in Paris, shows that even a monstrously
creative artist like Pablo Picasso had carefully studied the work of
predecessors such as El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, Courbet, Delacroix and
Manet.
Program notes on the exhibit speak of the "unprecedented pictorial
cannibalism" in Picasso's approach. He was trained in the strict rules
of academic painting at a very early age, and he continued to steep himself in
the work of master painters throughout his long career.
The exhibit at the Grand Palais brings together 210 works.
"There is a series of real masterpieces that are absolutely
staggering, from both the old masters and from Picasso. We have essentially
all periods, and the way in which we see the masters' paintings shines a new
light on Picasso's work. We see how the greatest genius of the 20th century,
who really created a new path for painting, had drawn on tradition," said
Thomas Grenon, General Administrator Of the Reunion Des Musees Nationaux, one
of the organizers of the exhibition along with the National Picasso museum,
the Louvre and the Orsay museum.
A related thematic exhibition at the Orsay museum presents more than 40
Picasso paintings, drawings and engravings modelled on Edouard Manet's 1863
"Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe." Manet had in fact modelled this painting
on 'The Concert Champètre,' a 1509 painting by the Italian Giorgione,
modernizing it by substituting contemporary clothing on the figures in the
Giorgione painting. Picasso did several studies of Manet painting and
eventually made it his own, as Manet had done.
"Picasso himself copied an artist who had copied another artist.
We find ourselves in a game of referencing, and clearly Picasso found in Manet
the first person who had questioned the heritage of the masters, and had
thought about a way of bringing that heritage into his own time," said
Laurence Madeline, Director of the Picasso-Manet exhibition.
The third leg of the exhibition is housed at the Louvre museum, where
more than 20 works by Picasso modelled on Eugene Delacroix's 1834 "Femme
d'Alger dans leur appartement" are on display along with the Delacroix
original.
"What we see is a phenomenon of appropriation of the work of
others, of transformation and re-creation. We could call it destruction and
re-construction. Picasso analyzed the painting, and his early drafts are
pretty faithful to the original in terms of composition and characters. As the
work progresses, Picasso experiments with different drawing techniques and
eventually transforms it into something that is more personal. As he did with
'La Dormeuse Allongée' or 'La Veilleuse,' he undresses the women and twists
them in all directions. Mostly he experiments with different drawing
techniques," said Marie-Laure Bernadac, Head of Contemporary Art at the
Louvre.
The Grand Palais and Louvre exhibitions run until February 2, while the
Orsay exhibition ends February 1.