The Art Gallery of Ontario is unveiling on Tuesday a new exhibition featuring Pablo Picasso's works, making the AGO the only Canadian gallery stop in the world tour of the artist's personal collection.
Picasso kept a total of 3,600 artworks during his life, which passed to the French government following his death in 1973.
The exhibition, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, includes 147 pieces from Picasso's personal collection. Many pieces were donated by Picasso's family members, who inherited his collection after his death.
The French museum sent the artwork on a world tour as it has been closed for renovations since September. Other stops on the world tour include Moscow, San Francisco, Seattle, Sydney, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi and Helsinki.
"Picasso's artistry was constantly evolving, and this particular collection offers our members and visitors a rare opportunity to experience the entire trajectory of his artistic achievement," AGO director and CEO Matthew Teitelbaum said in a statement.
The AGO hasn't had a Picasso exhibition this large in almost 50 years, according to AGO exhibition planner Shiralee Hudson.
"This isn't a collection that travels too often. I'm not sure we're going to see another show like this in Canada in my lifetime," she said.
The pieces in the exhibit are displayed chronologically in the gallery, and span the course of Picasso's 70-year career as an artist.
Notable works include his blue-period masterpiece Celestina, his neoclassical work The Race, and his self-portrait The Matador, painted three years before his death. Depictions of Picasso's muse and mistresses are also included in the exhibition.
Visitors to the exhibition may notice that many of the works are unsigned, something Hudson said Picasso did deliberately.
"Picasso only signed works that he sold, so if you bought a Picasso work that was unsigned, it was a flag for the buyer that it was stolen," she said. "Since these works were part of his collection, he didn't sign them."
The exhibition also features a children's audio tour, a 16-page visitor guide featuring timelines of Picasso's life and work and a talk on May 23 by Picasso's granddaughter, art historian Diana Widmaier-Picasso.
The exhibition opens to the public on May 1, and tickets range from $16.25 youth tickets to $25 for adults. The exhibition is free for AGO members and children under 5.
