Picasso Looks at Degas

Picasso Looks at Degas is the first in-depth study of the fascination Picasso always felt for the art and the personality of Edgar Degas, and of the profound affinities between the works of both artists.

Thanks to his friendship with the oldest members of the Quatre Gats group, Picasso obtained knowledge of Impressionism before paying his first visit to Paris in 1900. Nevertheless, the dialogue he maintained with the art of Degas would develop later, during subsequent sojourns in Paris and in direct contact with original works. The Bateau-Lavoir, to where Picasso moved in 1904, was but a short walk from Degas's studio, and the two painters had many common acquaintances in the Parisian art world, among them legendary dealer Ambroise Vollard, although it seems that they never actually met.

With impressive pairings and groups of thematically related works, the exhibition surveys Degas through the eyes of Picasso and reveals how the Spanish artist's response to the French painter evolved from emulation to confrontation, and from parody to tribute. The show brings together works produced in a range of techniques in order to examine Picasso's reaction to the challenge posed by Degas's oeuvre, and highlights the fascinating affinity between the creative thinking and the working procedures of the two artists.