The exhibition, which runs until September 17, is the fifth in a series of six exhibitions organised to mark the centenary of the museum. The first four exhibitions in the ?Geniuses and Masterpieces? series, ?Titian and the Madonna of Venice?, ?Sea Battles?, ?Little Bacchanal? and ?The Mysterious Man?, all attracted big crowds.
The latest exhibition takes place in the museum?s black-draped Pyramid Hall. At the centre of the show is Picasso?s 1932 painting ?Woman Reading?, which depicts Picasso?s young, blonde, full-bosomed German lover Marie-Thérése Walter.
Other paintings in the exhibition include ?Woman with Child? from Picasso?s blue period, and the double portrait ?Claude and Paloma?, depicting the two children Picasso had with Francoise Gilot. Altogether seven of Picasso?s lovers are represented at the exhibition.
The mood in the exhibition space is enhanced by the sound of a huffing volcano, a reference to former French President Georges Pompidou?s statement that ?Picasso is a volcano that never rests?.
Undersecretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture Márta Schneider noted in a speech opening the exhibition that there was a different woman behind each one of Picasso?s periods.
Judit Gesko, the exhibition?s curator, quoted in her opening remarks the Hungarian-born photographer Brassai, who said that women and love are the ever necessary tools to liberate creativity.
The works, put together with the assistance of co-curator Márton Orosz, have been borrowed from the collections of Paris?s Picasso Museum and Stuttgart?s Staatsgalerie. The exhibition also contains some of the Museum of Fine Arts? own Picassos.
Gesko said preparations are currently underway for a large Van Gogh exhibition featuring 160 works to open in the Museum of Fine Arts on December 1, 2006.
For more information about the exhibition, visit: http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=SZM-KIALLITAS-GENIUSZOK_V
