Picasso, the Foreigner.

Lecture on the exhibition at the Musée de l'Immigration, Paris

with Chris Boïcos

This intimate show of Picasso’s work covering his entire career as an artist from the 1890’s to the 1960s is the result of a six-year research into French State and Police Archives. From his first exhibition in Paris at the Vollard gallery in 1901, Picasso was listed as a suspected Anarchist alien. From then to 1945 there are constant secret reports on his activities and political affiliations. His naturalization application was rejected by the French authorities in 1940, at a time when he was considered one of the greatest living painters in the world.

Picasso’s complicated relationship with his adopted country is illustrated by the newly discovered state documents and police reports as well as a series of exceptional loans of graphic works and paintings from private collections, the national Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art of Lille and the Picasso museums in Paris and Barcelona.