April 9, 2018
Opening hours: The exhibition opens daily between 1000 - 1630 as from the 7th April and will run till the 30th June 2018.
Guided tours: Free guided tours will be run on weekdays in the exhibition hall from 1230 - 1300. Please call Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti on 2123 1515 to confirm that the tour will be running on the day you intend to visit.
Closures: On exceptional occasions the Palace and exhibition will be closed to the public for private ceremonies. On Tuesday 10th April 2018 the Palace and exhibition will be closed in the morning and will re-open at 1330 due to a private event.
More about the exhibition:
Throughout the spring of 2018 the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta, which is currently the European Capital City of Culture, will open its doors to a remarkable exhibition confronting the work of two major Spanish artists of the 20th century - Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró.
'Picasso and Miró: The Flesh & The Spirit' is brought to Malta by Fundación Mapfre in collaboration with Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti and the Office of the President of Malta. Fundación Mapfre strongly believe that culture enriches people's lives and one of its principle aims is to bring art and history closer to the public through exhibitions, courses and publications. This exhibition is the first of its kind to be displayed in Malta.
This exhibition is part of a major international project titled 'Picasso-Méditerranée', an initiative from Musée National Picasso in Paris held between Spring 2017 and Spring 2019. Over 60 cultural institutions have come together to conjure up a programme exploring the Mediterranean work of Picasso and across the places which inspired him, aiming to strengthen ties between all the shores.
Pablo Picasso was one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He has a worldwide reputation and his works fetch the highest prices at auction houses. The exhibition comprises a suite of a 100 etchings produced by Picasso in the 1930s for the legendary art dealer Ambrose Vollard, as well as over 40 paintings by Miró, in a bid to explore the different possibilities which modern art offered them.
Pablo Jiménez Burillo, director of the Culture Department at Fundación Mapfre and curator of the show, explains: "This project intends to display something more than a show of two of the most significant creators of the 20th century who really shook up traditional art. This exhibition not only tries to delve into the soul of the artists through their powerful passions, feelings and inspirations, but also it will demonstrate the significance of their personal universes, full of symbols, which depict their personalities. While Picasso unties the dark forces of the male obsessions and delights in female beauty, Miró instructs us in pure colours and free gestures, which represent the generosity of nature and the key to attain happiness."
