Maillol - Picasso : défier l'idéal classique
Auteur(s) : Pascale Picard, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Thierry Dufrêne (dir.)
Exhibition at the Musée d'Art Hyacinthe Rigaud, Perpignan, 28 June - 31 December 2025
While Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) embodies a sober and harmonious classicism, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) boldly revolutionises forms. Yet their work intersects and responds to each other, particularly around common themes such as femininity, the Catalan landscape and the representation of the body, revealing an unexpected influence: that of Maillol on Picasso's temporary return to a classical aesthetic during his stay in Perpignan in the 1950s.
This catalogue brings together around a hundred works by the two artists – sculptures, paintings, engravings and photographs – from the collections of the Perpignan museum, as well as the Maillol, Orsay, Picasso Paris and Orangerie museums. It decodes the aesthetic and technical points of convergence between the two artists around their Catalan identity, femininity, portraiture, and the landscapes of Roussillon.
