Picasso's Last Year
Between December 31, 1970 and February 4, 1971, Picasso produced a series of fifty-seven drawings, which he then donated to the Musée Réattu.
We have long been aware of the artist's connection with the town of Arles, his attachment to the culture of the region and to its bullrings. However, we know less about the circumstances that led him to give the museum this striking series, one of the many bodies of work from his so-called "final period," in this case only two years before his death. The artist, concerned about a potential loss of vitality after undergoing surgery in 1965, threw himself body and soul into his work, returning time and time again to his favorite figures, genre scenes, and his iconic characters. The harlequin, the musketeer, and the painter cross paths in fruitful dialogues. The figure of the Minotaur and that of the matador-painter merge, complete each other, and remind us of the extent of Picasso's attachment to the bullfighting culture of Arles, the town where at a time he considered making his home.
At the Musée Réattu, Picasso had the opportunity to take possession of the rooms. Although in 1957 the museum was still in its infancy, that did not deter him from becoming actively involved in preparing the exhibition of his work. The 1971 show was exceptional, from what we can infer from the archives, from reading the articles and the requests for interviews, and from the words of a variety of people: thank-you notes, letters, inquiries from players in the arts field seeking to visit the show with their students, schoolchildren, or children from the neighborhood, and requests for the exhibition poster.
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Summary