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Picasso in Japan?

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In my previous post,  I didn't use to like Picasso , I wrote about how I found two of his self-portraits, painted at the age of 91, really impressive. I was also shocked because I tend to read labels closely when something interests me, and I discovered both paintings had come to the Barcelona Picasso Museum from as far as Japan. So I decided to look them up. Head of a man  was there thanks to the Hakone Open Air Museum;  Self-portrait  was courtesy of the Fuji Television Gallery, which was even more surprising. Wasn't that weird? A Japanese TV company lending Barcelona a Picasso painting for a temporary exhibition. Just click on this picture of Hakone to see where this town is, ten thousand kilometres away: Hakone Fortunately, Fuji Television has an English translation of its website, so I could learn that the TV giant that owns Picasso's Self-Portrait also sponsors the  Hakone Open Air Museum , which has lent Barcelona Hea

I didn't use to like Picasso

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Some art you enjoy immediately, some you don't. Likings are not always politically correct. I never liked Picasso much, neither his art when I visited his museum in my city the first time nor himself as an artist later, when I learnt about how he abused all the (many) women he was together with. A couple of years ago, I found a Sunday Times interview with Françoise Gilot enlightening. She claimed to be the only woman who could truly say she had dropped Picasso. Françoise Gilot A few days ago I went to see Picasso's self-portraits exhibition (on at the Picasso Museum, Barcelona, until September 1 st ). I walked around the rooms as I usually do, going back to the paintings that caught my attention, like that in which Picasso and Junyent are sitting at a table close to a celestine (euphemism for a prostitute provider).  It is made entirely with wax crayons, those we all have at home. It was dark, there were lines of different colours, pinks and blues and greys g