Inside Louvre Abu Dhabi’s First Ever Exhibition Dedicated to Pablo Picasso and Arab Modernists

In a first for Louvre Abu Dhabi, a major exhibition dedicated entirely to Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential artists of 20th century art, is currently taking place. Through paintings, sculptures and drawings, it specifically explores the bold evolution of the human figure in Picasso's vast body of work. Entitled "Picasso, the Figure", the exhibition is a unique collaboration between the UAE museum and Musée National Picasso in Paris, home to thousands of the Spanish artist's works – many of which were donated by the artist's family members. With more than 130 showcased pieces, the exhibition also features artworks from private collections in the Arab region.

Photo: Mohamed Somji, courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi

Throughout the galleries, the exhibition demonstrates how Picasso, who was born in Spain in 1881 but lived most of his life as an exile in France, was influenced by numerous factors, from mythology to tribal African masks and neoclassical masters. His portraits witnessed transformation overtime, from the 1910s onwards, ranging from classical to Cubist-style and the surrealistic. As one advances in the exhibition’s galleries, Picasso's portraits turn more intense, fractured, multifaceted, unruly and disorderly. “A head,” he once said, “is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth, which can be distributed in any way you like.” This stylistic shift was impacted by the artist's experimental nature, personal circumstances as well the emotional weight caused by destructive wars sweeping across Europe.

This photo was taken at Picasso's home "La Californie" on the French Riviera.Bettmann

A little twist in the exhibition comes through the inclusion of 20th century artworks by prominent modernists hailing from the Middle East and North Africa, who were influenced by Picasso's style. These artists include Iraqi pioneers Dia Al-Azzawi, Shakir Hassan Al Said, and Jewad Selim, who was a member of the Baghdad Group for Modern Art. Other artists include the Egyptian Ramses Younan, who was part of the Surrealist collective "Art et Liberté Group", as well as the Algerian painter Baya Mahieddine, who is believed to have met Picasso in France. "The art historical narrative is further enriched by the inclusion of Arab modernists, highlighting the depth of cross-cultural artistic exchange," reads a statement by Louvre Abu Dhabi curators, Guilhem André and Aisha Al-Ahmadi.

5 highlights to see at the exhibition

In this highly experimental, abstract and geometrical painting, composed of muted light-brown and beige tones, Picasso depicts a woman with the stringed mandolin instrument. One has to look closely to try and imagine the unrecognisable portrayed figure. Her dissected physique is shaped by a vertical grouping of rectilinear and curvilinear lines. This image was created during Picasso’s Analytical Cubism (practiced between 1908–1912) phase, where imagery had a fragmentary aesthetic with overlapping planes.

This serene painting of Picasso’s first wife, the Ukrainian-born ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova, was produced at a time when the artist drifted away from experimenting with Cubism. In 1917, Picasso travelled to Italy for a job opportunity, where he happened to meet Khokhlova, and married her the following year. In Italy, he also immersed himself in ancient and classical works of art there, particularly in Florence, where the Renaissance was born. In this portrait of Khokhlova, who is gently looking away from the viewer, Picasso paints her in a graceful manner that evokes the aura of a Greco-Roman statue.

Another important woman in Picasso’s life was the late French artist Françoise Gilot, who was his partner between 1943 and 1953. Nicknamed the “flower woman,” Gilot is the subject of this bold painting, where her body, created through simple lines and shapes, is depicted in the form of a plant. Akin to a flower, her body acts as the stem, whereas her arms transform into claw-like leaves and her face is surrounded by petal-like shapes.

The Dalloul Art Foundation in Beirut has loaned this rare painted ceramic statuette of a decorated woman by the late Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine, who died in 1998. She was known for her vibrant paintings that celebrated indigenous Amazigh culture. The story goes that she met Picasso in the seaside town of Vallauris in the South of France, where they both collaborated during summers in a ceramics pottery workshop called Madoura. It is believed that he was taken by her work, which influenced his famous Women of Algiers series.

Out of all of Picasso’s powerful works, nothing compares to his timeless, anti-war Guernica masterpiece, created in response to the bombing of the namesake town during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Such a universal, black-and-white composition of suffering figures has inspired many artists of future generations, including the prolific Iraqi artist Dia Al-Azzawi. Hung in a dark room at the exhibition, Al-Azzawi’s long and rectangular painting is paired with an audio of a lyrical Arabic poem, Elegy to the Unborn City, written by the 20th century Iraqi poet Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Bayati. Al-Azzawi’s dark and heavy painting was also created in response to his native “trapped” city, Baghdad, which has endured destruction after years of recent conflict. @louvreabudhabi

"Picasso, the Figure" is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until May 31, 2026.