Between Picasso and Africa, a mutual inspiration

Poster of the Picasso exhibition at the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar.

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Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

An unprecedented exhibition at the Museum of Black Civilizations: "Picasso in Dakar, 1972-2022" opens this Friday in Senegal.

It brings together works by the artist from the Picasso Museum in Paris, as well as African works from the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, and the Théodore Monod Museum in Dakar.

Today, this new exhibition is designed as a “dialogue” between his works and African art objects.

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On one side, a study by

Picasso

from 1907 for the painting “Les demoiselles d'Avignon”.

On the other, a Gouro Baoulé mask from the Ivory Coast.

The similarities are obvious.

We recognize in the design of the nose and in the oval of the eyes a great proximity

”, estimates Guillaume de Sardes, one of the four curators of the exhibition, at the microphone of

our correspondent in Dakar

,

Charlotte Idrac.

Picasso was interested throughout his life in African art since he collected African art.

But I would say that it was especially during the first part of his career, when he was trying to renew himself after the pink and blue period, that he encountered African art?

This will open a path that will lead indirectly –

it is not the only influence

but it is one – on Cubism

”, adds the curator.

On a photo, Picasso plays the xylophone in 1957. And in resonance is displayed a balafon from the collections of the Théodore Monod museum in Dakar.

Here too, it is the link between the works that is put forward.

"

These are moments that we chose to see Picasso's contact with the imagination of African heritage,

" says the director, El Hadj Malick Ndiaye.

An artistic dialogue, but which goes beyond that, according to Ousseynou Wade, also curator: “

This dialogue of civilizations was theorized by Senghor.

Picasso, too, went to examine works, but they were not necessarily European works of art.

This is someone who showed us how diversity could be extremely enriching and a real source of creativity 

”.

The exhibition, in particular for young people, is to be discovered until June 30.

“Picasso is a bridge between the West and African heritage”

If Picasso was inspired by African art, the Spanish painter exhibited in Dakar is also, today, a source of inspiration for the young generation of African artists.

Picasso is an immense source of knowledge, understanding and inspiration for me.

I was born in Africa and came to study in Europe.

So I often say that when I reclaim Picasso's work, he becomes a grandfather to me.

It is a sacred source from which I will drink, where I will, in any case, quench my thirst for knowledge 

”, says the Beninese painter Roméo Mivékannin.

“ 

Picasso is not just a style.

He searched.

It varied.

He found.

Sometimes it was rejected.

Sometimes it was taken over.

It is quite extraordinary.

It is the energy of this man and his vitality that strike me.

Picasso is a bridge between the West and the African heritage and he integrates all this corpus in his work.

So, there is a work of reappropriation in him which is very very strong.

And he even manages to transform it.

So Picasso is also about metamorphosis.

He's a magician

 ,” he adds.

One of Roméo Mivékannin's works will be visible as part of the Picasso remix exhibition, at the le manège gallery in Dakar from April 23rd.

“ 

Today, that African artists are inspired by what was, at one time, a tool of reappropriation for the West, I find it extraordinary.

It's a story, in any case, which ends very very well

 , ”concludes the artist.

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