LUXURY NOW / ARTISTIC DIVERSITY / PICASSO

Picasso is the world's most expensive and popular artist. This fall sees a series of exhibitions dedicated to Picasso dotted around Paris, Malaga, New York and Tokyo.

Take a tour to visit the Picasso exhibitions taking place in Paris, Malaga, New York and Tokyo. Collectively, they reveal his versatility and how his paintings referenced the Old Masters, his love life, friendships and his personal interests. We also give you the low-down on what else to do and where to stay.

Pablo Picasso is the world's most bankable artist and has global popularity and appeal. His "Garçon à la Pipe" from 1905 sold for $104,168,000 at Sotheby's New York in May 2004, making it the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction. This fall, interest in Picasso seems to be at an all time high. A veritable "Picasso Season" is storming through the art world, with exhibitions taking place simultaneously in Paris, Malaga, New York and Tokyo.

PARIS
Three exhibitions in Paris are devoted to how Picasso was deeply inspired by the Great Masters and directly referenced their works in many of his paintings. So close was the rapport between the Great Masters' pieces and Picasso's, that some critics have accused him of "cannibalizing" them. What's beyond doubt is Picasso's profound interest in the history of art and how he positioned himself in this lineage.
For those short on time, it's possible to visit all three exhibitions on the same day although two days are really needed to digest the visual intensity. Start at the Grand Palais (www.grandpalais.fr) to see "Picasso et les Maîtres" (Picasso and the Masters). This major show explores how Picasso entered into a dialogue with works of the Great Masters and paid tribute to them in his own paintings. This is the first time that Picasso's work has been so extensively juxtaposed with those of the Masters and, quite predictably, the exhibition is causing a sensation.
One of the highlights is Picasso's delightful "The Child Marguerite," which was inspired by Diego Velazquez's "The Child Marie Marguerite." The pose is strikingly similar even though the styles are contrastingly different; Picasso has reinterpreted Velazquez's work and painted the young girl with a green, blue and white face in a yellow dress that. Also watch out for "Yo, Picasso," which is a self-portrait of the young artist at his easel, for which Picasso took inspiration from El Greco's portrait of the artist Jorge Manuel Theototokopulus. (The exhibition travels to the National Gallery in London in late February where it is renamed "Picasso: Challenging the Past.")
What else to do: The Petit Palais is exhibiting around 100 drawings by Akira Kurosawa, who was one of the most important Japanese filmmakers of the twentieth century. Also check out the new Ralph Lauren store, which opened in October, on the glamorous avenue Montaigne; it's promoting "Unknown Halsman", a book on Philippe Halsman's surrealist photography edited by his grandson, Olivier Halsman Rosenberg. (http://www.artbook.com/9781933045870.html) And Galerie de Noirmont (www.denoirmont.com) is showing three fabulous new series of Valérie Belin's photography, including portraits portraying a dancer from the Lido cabaret.

Paris
At the Louvre (www.louvre.fr) is "Picasso/Delacroix: Femmes d'Alger." On show are around 20 pictorial and graphic variations made by Picasso from 1954-1955 that are based around Delacroix's masterpiece "Les Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement." The classicism of Delacroix's painting depicting four women in an apartment in Algiers is reinterpreted with Picasso's bright, Cubist forms. In 1955, Picasso made 15 paintings and numerous preparatory drawings after Delacroix's painting.
What else to do: Yohji Yamamoto's new, white, three-story, 600-meter squared flagship store that opened this month on rue Cambon is utterly sleek. Designed by the British interior architect Sophie Hicks, this white cube with white painted windows presents the Japanese designer's men's and women's collections. It's on the mythical street where Coco Chanel opened her first store and office. To browse fine art publications, pop into Galignani (www.galignani.com) or Colette (www.colette.fr), where there's also an exhibition of kooky, girly photography by Tomoko Sawada besides leading fashion. To relax, either go to Angelina for hot chocolate and macaroons or Hôtel Meurice for afternoon tea.

Paris
Across the Seine at the Musée d'Orsay (www.musee-orsay.fr), "Picasso/Manet: Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" juxtaposes Manet's masterpiece with Picasso's "Le déjeuner sur l'herbe d'après Manet". Manet's painting provoked controversy back in 1863 for showing a naked woman picnicking with two fully dressed men. Picasso made several variations of Manet's painting, revisiting the theme on various occasions from 1954 to 1963. Once he even depicted all the picnickers naked.
What else to do: Also taking place at the Orsay is "Masques. De Carpeaux à Picasso," an exhibition on nineteenth to twentieth mask sculptures made from Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux up to Picasso. And don't miss the lovely show
"Le Mystère et l'Eclat (Mystery and Glitter)" which features around 118 pastel pictures from the Musée d'Orsay's permanent collection.

Where to stay: Le Meurice (www.meuricehotel.fr), positioned just across the Seine from the Musee d'Orsay and overlooking the Tuileries gardens, is a Paris classic that was recently given an elegant facelift by Philippe Starck. Or, closer to the Petit Palais, the Hôtel Plaza Athénée (www.plaza-athenee-paris.fr) is home to some of the city's most beautiful rooms and suites – as well as the ultra-fashionable Bar du Plaza Athenee.

MALAGA
At the Fundación Picasso – Museo Casa Natal (www.fundacionpicasso.es)
in Malaga, Spain, is a delightful exhibition of black-and-white photographs of Picasso taken by Lee Miller titled "Lee Miller y Picasso: Evocación y Recuerdo" (Lee Miller y Picasso: Evocation and Memory). Miller was a fashion model turned photographer/reporter who, partly thanks to her relationship with Man Ray and her marriage to the surrealist painter and curator Roland Penrose, became friends with Europe's leading artistic figures. Some of her intimate portraits of Picasso were taken during her and Penrose's visits to Picasso's home, and others were taken during Picasso's visits to their country house in England. The images convey Picasso's relaxed, natural mood in Miller's company, reflecting the warmth of their friendship. (Some of Miller's affectionate portraits of Picasso are also included in "L'Art de Lee Miller", which is a retrospective of Miller's work taking place at the Jeu de Paume photography museum in Paris.)
The museum is housed in Picasso's birthplace. An official heritage site since 1983, its first floor was rented by Picasso's father, José Ruiz Blasco, from 1880 to 1883. The building became the headquarters for the Picasso Foundation in 1998, when it was re-opened by the King and Queen of Spain. Temporary exhibitions are artifacts from Picasso's early life are on the ground floor, while works by Picasso and his father, who was an artist and an art teacher, are on the first floor. The focus of the collection is on Picasso's graphic art, and 3,500 works of artists such as Joan Miró, Antoni Tápies, Francis Bacon, Christo, Max Ernst, Tápies and Jaume Plensa are also on display.

What else to do: Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga (www.cacmalaga.org) is Malaga's contemporary art museum. Inaugurated five years ago, it has some 400 works in its permanent collection, including works by American artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella. Until November 30, 2008 there's also a solo show of work by Matthias Weischer, one of the most important figures of The New Leipzig School and a disciple of David Hockney.

Where to stay: Just a few meters away from the Fundacion Picasso, the Hotel Molina Lario (www.hotelmolinalario.com) is an ultra-modern haven hidden behind an original 19th century façade. While all the rooms are stylish and comfortable, insist on one at the front of the hotel which has incredible views of the cathedral

NEW YORK
Picasso is known for frequently depicting his love life in his art, changing partners as frequently as painting styles. An exhibition at Acquavella Galleries (www.acquavellagalleries.com) focuses on his young, blonde lover and muse, Marie-Thérèse. The story goes that Picasso met Marie-Thérèse Walter on a Parisian street in 1927, when he was 45 and married to Olga. Marie-Thérèse was 17. The two became lovers and eight years later, she bore his daughter, Maya, but it wasn't soon before Picasso was falling in love with the Yugoslavian photographer Dora Maar.
The paintings in this exhibition were all made, with one exception, in 1932 in time for Picasso's retrospective at Galeries Georges Petit in Paris, which took place one year after his rival Matisse's retrospective. None of the paintings are for sale; they are on loan from the Guggenheim Museum, the MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum, Tate Modern and private collections.
The main piece is "The Dream," which portrays a seated Marie-Thérèse leaning her face on her shoulder; one half of her face is white, the other half is pink and resembles an erect phallus – the obvious implication being that Marie-Thérèse is dreaming about her middle-aged lover. The New York Times describes it as an example of some of Picasso's "soft-porn, sexy, sentimental, kitsch and crowd-pleasing" art.
"The Dream" has another story behind it, too. The painting belongs to Stephen A. Wynn, a Las Vegas casino billionaire, who bought it in 2001 for $42 million. Five years later, he decided to sell it through the gallery to the hedge-funder Steven Cohen for $139 million. However, Wynn accidentally knocked his elbow through the canvas in the area of Marie-Thérèse's forearm while showing it to some friends. The sale was off, but conservators managed, amazingly enough, to repair the damage – as you can see in this exhibition – and Wynn and his wife decided to keep the picture.

What else to do: Close by is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.metmuseum.org), which is holding an exhibition of photography by Rudy Burckhardt; his black-and-white pictures are today considered among the strongest images ever made of New York. Another great photography exhibition is that of Catherine Opie at the Guggenheim (www.guggenheim.org). The self-portrait of a bare-chested, sturdily built Opie breast-feeding her blonde-haired son is hugely impressive. It recalls the many depictions of the Mother and Child while revisiting maternal tenderness in a new, modern light.

Where to stay: Not far from the Guggenheim, The Carlyle (www.thecarlyle.com) is an Upper East Side institution and a global landmark for Old Warm charm and discreet style. Famous for being the venue of Woody Allen's weekly jazz concerts, the handsome hotel is also a home-away-from-home for the likes of Carine Roitfeld and Tom Ford.

Interestingly, one of Picasso's paintings depicting Marie-Thérèse and her sister (which was not included in this exhibition at Acquavella Galleries) sold at Christie's (www.christies.com) New York this November for just over $18 million. It scraped over the lower estimate by a couple of thousand dollars.

TOKYO
Much of the collection of the Musée National Picasso (www.musee-picasso.fr) in Paris is on tour while the museum undergoes restoration, and some 230 pieces are being shown in two venues in Tokyo. They both highlight Picasso's talent and versatility for inventing new styles and techniques. "Picasso: From the Collection of the Musée National Picasso, Paris" at the National Art Center (http://www.nact.jp/) features around 170 works that are presented chronologically, revealing how Picasso moved from one style to another, and includes drawings, paintings and bronzes. One of the famous masterpieces in the show is his portrait of his lover Dora Maar, who was a photographer who took pictures of Picasso's work, including Guernica. The profile painting was based on a portrait taken in 1936 by Man Ray and portrays Maar sitting elegantly on a wooden chair, her red nail-polished fingers touching her cheek. It displays Picasso's love of color, her hair is painted green and black, with a palette of green, red, pink, white and pale blue used to depict her face. At the nearby "Picasso: Portrait of Soul" exhibition at Suntory Museum of Art (http://www.suntory.com/culture-sports/sma/guide/info.html) are some 60 oil paintings, mainly self-portraits, that indicate how Picasso would incorporate elements of his own life into his work, such as his passion for bull-fighting and his interest in mythology.

What else to do: Both museums are in the vicinity of Roppongi Hills, where Keyakizaka, a installation of blue and white lights – intended to evoke a tree-lined boulevard sparkling with snow – is installed until Christmas Day. It's also worth visiting the Mori Art Museum to see "Chalo! India", which spotlights works by 27 of India's contemporary artists. To unwind, take a cab to Shu Sanctuary. Created by the leading Japanese cosmetics brand Shu Uemura, this beauty temple houses a spa, hair and nail salon, and a parlor for aromatherapy and vitamin supplements.

Where to stay: With stunning city views from its walls of glass and a sleek minimalist interior, the Park Hyatt Tokyo (www.tokyo.park.hyatt.com) is often touted as one of the best hotels in Japan. Famous for its role in the movie 'Lost in Translation', you might recognize the elegant suites and buzzing New York Bar.

Addresses for all the Picasso exhibitions

'Picasso et les Maîtres' is at the Grand Palais, 3, avenue du Général-Eisenhower, 75008 Paris, from October 6, 2008, through February 2, 2009. www.grandpalais.fr

"Picasso: Challenging the Past" is at the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, from February 25 through June 7, 2009.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk

"Picasso/Delacroix: Femmes d'Alger" is at the Louvre, 75001 Paris, from October 9, 2008, until February 2, 2009. www.louvre.fr

"Picasso/Manet: Le déjeuner sur l'herbe" is at the Musée d'Orsay, 62, rue de Lille, 75007 Paris, from October 8, 2008, through February 1, 2009. www.musee-orsay.fr

"Lee Miller y Picasso: Evocación y Recuerdo" is at Fundacion Picasso Museo Casa Natal, Plaza Merced 15, 29012 Malaga, Spain, from October 2, 2008, through February 15, 2009.
www.fundacionpicasso.es.

"L'Art de Lee Miller" is at the Jeu de Paume, Place de la Concorde, 75001 Paris, from October 21, 2008, through January 4, 2009.
www.jeudepaume.org

"Picasso's Marie-Thérèse" is at Acquavella Galleries, 18 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075, from October 15 through November 29, 2008. www.acquavellagalleries.com

"Picasso: From the Collection of the Musée National Picasso, Paris" is at the National Art Center, Roppongi, Tokyo, from October 4 through December 14, 2008.
http://www.nact.jp/

"Picasso: Portrait of Soul" is at Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo Midtown Gardenside 9-7-4 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, from October 4, 2008, through December 14, 2008.
http://www.suntory.com/culture-sports/sma/guide/info.html

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