The online version of the exhibition “Picasso in Istanbul,” which is an important cornerstone of art exhibitions in Turkey and covers all periods of renowned painter Pablo Picasso's art, has now been made available on the website, social media accounts and YouTube channel of Sabancı University’s Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM). The online exhibition has been prepared using the archival sources of digitalSSM, which is a pioneering project in the country, encompassing the transfer of all the collections and archives of a museum to digital media.
SSM, which is temporarily closed to visitors in line with the measures taken against the coronavirus outbreak, has decided to open a rich content selection from its past exhibitions to visit on its digital channels. The first exhibition to be launched virtually is “Picasso in Istanbul,” which was held with the support of the Sakıp Sabancı family and Sabancı Holding from Nov. 24, 2005, to March 26, 2006.
The online exhibition which opened with enriched content has been prepared with a chronological arrangement in which the works are classified according to their periods in parallel with “Picasso in Istanbul,” which was curated by the artist’s grandson Bernard-Ruiz Picasso, along with Maria-Volga de Minteguiga-Guezala and Marilyn McCully. During the exhibition period, 135 works borrowed from the Picasso museums in Paris and Barcelona, the Lille Modern Art Museum, FABA (Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte) and the family collection can be viewed.
The exhibition features Picasso’s works classified according to periods, informative texts about them and a detailed chronology about the life and era of the artist from the exhibition catalog of “Picasso in Istanbul” and “Two Days with Picasso in Vallauris,” which Abidin Dino wrote after he spent days with Picasso.
Art lovers can listen to the works in the online exhibition with the voice of Müşfik Kenter through an audio guide written by Ferit Edgü for the exhibition, which includes the stories behind the artist's works and their analyses in terms of art history.
Also available online is a conference series held during the exhibition and featuring the world’s leading experts on Picasso as speakers. The lectures, which are rich sources of information on Picasso, shed light on the great influence of the artist on both his contemporaries and the art of the later periods. The program also features Picasso's predecessors and inspirations from various fields such as literature, as well as examples in which the artist's path intersected with other disciplines such as performing arts and poetry. The conference program – which includes topics such as the influence of Cubism on Turkish art, politics in Picasso's life and art, and his experiences in Paris – can be viewed on SSM’s website.
A children's workshop will also be held via SSM's social media accounts in connection with the online exhibition. At the workshop called “Cut and Paste – Crazy Masks,” which is based on the artist's interest in African masks as a resource, participants will design and make their own masks with the materials at their home. In addition, “Ben, Picasso” ("I, Picasso"), an illustrated book prepared for children as part of “Picasso in Istanbul,” is being shared in the online exhibition. The book, which can be downloaded from the museum's website, is also available with an audio version.
