Who is Picasso?

Pablo Picasso is one of the few visual artists who achieved recognition and worldwide fame during his lifetime. He was also one of the most prolific artists of all time, leaving behind more than twenty thousand works of art. Many consider him a genius who fundamentally dismantled and redefined the rules of painting and image-making. Some see him as a self-willed man who regarded himself as a demigod, while others stand puzzled before his strange, colourful forms, exclaiming, “I can do that!” and “Even a four-year-old can do that!” It may come as a surprise that it is the latter who understand Picasso very well indeed. The painter said it himself: “At twelve, I drew like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn how to draw like a child.” In his works, he sought to rediscover the genius of childhood that lay dormant in everyone before they became adults.

As we move through the galleries, different faces of Picasso gaze back at us – sometimes the master himself with sparkling eyes, and sometimes his persona through his works. The exhibition also points out the connections between the painter and some artists of Hungarian descent, the encounters and interactions that took place within the creative melting pot of 20^th-century Paris.