The Picasso Museum Malaga ends 2024 with nearly 800,000 visitors

The Picasso Museum Málaga (MPM) ended 2024 with a program that attracted nearly 800,000 visitors. The art gallery renewed its permanent exhibition with 'Pablo Picasso: Structures of Invention. The Unity of a Work'. A creative cartography that challenges the conventional divisions of the work of the artist from Málaga.

The exhibition program, which has spanned from the 20th to the 21st century with major names ranging from María Blanchard, to Joel Meyerowitz and William Kentridge, attracted 792,353 annual visitors, almost 13,000 more than in 2023.

The last exhibition of the year was inaugurated in the city of Granada. 'Reflections. Picasso / Koons at the Alhambra', at the Palace of Charles V and the Granada Museum of Fine Arts, begins a project that expands Picasso's work beyond the Museum.

Picasso and Koons: a (friendly) duel of giants with the Alhambra as a backdrop / L.O.

In a statement, they highlighted that the Picasso Museum showcased this year, since March, a new permanent exhibition at the Buenavista Palace titled 'Pablo Picasso: Structures of Invention. The Unity of a Work', which the public can visit until spring 2027.

A total of one hundred and forty-four works—ten of them being shown for the first time in our country—that, together, reveal the personality of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and his extraordinary capacity for innovation in modern art. Michael FitzGerald, Professor of Art History at the Kluger Family at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut (USA), has overseen this creative cartography that includes painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, and graphic work, and challenges the conventional divisions of Picasso's work.

The 'Echo of Picasso' exhibition at the MPM, in pictures

Exhibition 'Echoes of Picasso', at the MPM / Álex Zea

Simultaneously, until the end of March this year, the exhibition 'The Echo of Picasso', curated by Éric Troncy, was on display in the context of the 50th anniversary of the artist's death and proposed a dialogue of the work of the artist from Málaga with other contemporary artists.

Until September, the public also had the opportunity to see the monographic exhibition 'María Blanchard. Painter Despite Cubism', dedicated to this painter (1881-1932), which highlighted her contribution to the modern movement. This exhibition was curated by José Lebrero, former director of the Picasso Museum Málaga.

The inauguration of the María Blanchard exhibition at the Picasso Museum, in pictures

The inauguration of the María Blanchard exhibition at the Picasso Museum, in pictures / Álex Zea

Furthermore, from June 15 to December 15, the Picasso Museum presented a major exhibition 'Joel Meyerowitz. Europe 1966-1967', featuring the early work of the New York photographer Joel Meyerowitz (1938), curated by Miguel López-Remiro, artistic director of the museum.

The exhibition was accompanied by an interesting cycle of contemporary flamenco, Flamenco x Joel Meyerowitz, featuring prominent artists of the genre such as Carmen Linares.

Joel Meyerowitz at the Picasso Museum Málaga

The Picasso Museum hosts an exhibition of over 200 photographs by Joel Meyerowitz on his journey through Europe in 1966-67 / Álex Zea

Additionally, since November 21, the art gallery hosts the guest work 'More Sweetly Play the Dance', by William Kentridge, which will be on display until April 2025. The Ebola crisis inspired the South African artist's immersive video installation, which evokes migratory movements in the face of various threats.

Finally, last Monday, December 16, the exhibition 'Reflections. Picasso / Koons at the Alhambra' was inaugurated in Granada, starting a project that, in this first incursion, establishes a vision on the relationship between the work of Pablo Picasso and Jeff Koons in the context of the Palace of Charles V, the Collection of the Granada Museum of Fine Arts, and the unique setting of La Alhambra.

Museum visits reached 792,353 people during this year 2024. In this regard, they emphasized that "it is relevant to highlight the high participation in educational and cultural activities, with around 25,000 people attending the museum at the numerous events held: conferences, seminars, courses, screenings, talks, roundtables, or concerts of various genres." With these, the exhibition program was "complemented and amplified."

Finally, they highlighted that the Picasso Museum Málaga "enriches the cultural agenda of the city and is in constant evolution, in line with times where art, culture, and thought are more necessary than ever. Herein lies the contribution of the art gallery to the birthplace of the artist who conquered the 20th century and whose legacy continues to live in the 21st century."