How Picasso forged an expansive, experimental and personal approach to a traditional genre

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was committed to depicting landscapes throughout his entire life. From his earliest days in art school until the year before his death, landscape remained the prime genre through which he mediated his perception of the world and which shaped his own creative evolution. Yet within Picasso’s vast oeuvre, landscapes have received the least scholarly attention. Landscape would serve as a catalyst for his formal experimentation, including early Cubism; as a field in which to investigate urban modernity; as an interface between humanity and nature; as a ground for direct sculptural intervention; as a space of personal withdrawal; as an inviting terrain for elegiac scenes; and as a territory of resistance and flight.
Landscapes offer the clearest lens for understanding Picasso’s attentiveness to his cultural milieu as well as to his ongoing engagement with art-historical traditions. Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds celebrates the depth of his exploration of landscape subjects along with his expansive approach to this traditional genre.

Text by: Peter Jonathan Bell, Jacques Rancière