THE PICASSO MUSEUM

The Eugenio Arias Collection

The Collection:

Since the 15th. March 1985 the Picasso Museum has been in the basement of the Town Hall.

It was established thanks to Eugenio Arias who had been the barber and great friend of Picasso. For over 26 years he accumulated works by Picasso and donated them to the museum.

In spite of being only a small collection of some 60 pieces, the contents of the Museum are varied. There are ceramics, lithographs, posters, drawings, and pyrography. Below are listed those of particular interest:

- Barber’s box.
This is a box of pyrographed wood featuring bullfighting scenes. It must be borne in mind that little is known of pyrographic works by Picasso.
- El Picador.
Work carried out in ink. Given by Jacqueline Picasso.
- Plate of little, fried bulls.
Also in ink, it depicts a helping of little, fried bulls with a wine jug and a glass of Spanish wine.
- The prisoner and the dove.
A lithograph revindicating the freedom of conscience. This work is well known due to its frequent use by Amnesty International.

The themes:

There is a large quantity of works of a bullfighting nature. They show various stages of the fight plus the more tragic moments of the fight. There is also a poster advertising a bullfight in Vallauris. The erotic aspect is portrayed by the pretty, young girl and the picador or the plate of fried bulls. All reflect the passion that Picasso felt for the art of bullfighting.

Other recurrent Picasso themes occur in the pieces such as those related to mankind's problems and human rights. Picasso was extremely committed to these and therefore we can see peace, liberty and the right to strike represented in 'Asturian Poster 1963','The Prisoner and the Dove' or 'World Congress for  General Disarmament and Peace'.

There are also many references to his friend Arias' job symbolised through the use of the barber's bowl. Amongst the  ceramic bowls  on display there are two in particular, one decorated with silhouettes of Don Quijote and Sancho and the other with two fighting - bulls.

In addition to the themes specifically mentioned there are a variety of others such as: ones with mythological references, the painter and the model, the artist's workshop, allegorical allusions to the France/Spain connection, the varied faces of Arias.....

The Friendship between Picasso and Arias:

Eugenio Arias was born in Buitrago in 1909. He lived and went to school here until he was 9 years old. He worked as a barber until the Civil War. At the end of the war he was exiled to France. There after the  vicissitudes of living in concentration camps and the guerrilla he was at last able to settle, in 1946, in Vallauris, on the Côte d'Azur, with his future wife.

There he set up his barber's shop and ,by chance, met Picasso. At that time the artist was living in Vallauris in the villa 'la Galoise' with his wife Françoise Gilot - mother of Claude and Paloma.
Picasso was constantly aware of his compatriots' problems and tried to make contact with them. Inthe words of Arias ' he was like a breath of fresh air for us'.  This was how a friendship began that would last until the artist's death..'But', we ask, 'why was there such a friendship with Arias who had no direct contact with either the artistic or intellectual world of Picasso', Perhaps the answer lies in the affinity of their characters- they were even physically alike- and in brotherly love. This enabled them to rise above the social conventions and barriers which make human relationships so difficult.

The pieces on show are inspired by the almost daily contact between the two friends. Some from their frequent visits to the bullrings of Vallauris, Nîmes, Arlès..... others from a passing conversation or activity, others from shared desires....and from these arose the collection that we can see in the museum and which offers a dual perspective of Picasso: the artistic one which characterised his public life and the one revealing his intimate human relationships, especially the friendship between two men. A German journalist once told Arias that, for him, this was 'A museum dedicated to art and friendship'.
 
Through Arias we can reach the least accessible aspect of Picasso, that of his human relationships, which, because we are dealing with a legend is often presented to us from contradictory perspectives. Arias constantly remembers his own experiences with Picasso and he gives the impression of two  good-natured, amusing men, always ready for a joke, who shared their lives. This is the outline of the collection that Picasso's barber has wished to leave to his home-town.

We sincerely hope that you will enjoy your visit and that it will serve to expand your image of this brilliant artist of our times.

OTHER FACILITIES:

Library:

We have a reference library for all those who wish to know the figure and works of Picasso: Biographies, general studies of his work and studies of his work by periods, studies of individual works ( Guernica and Las Señoritas de Avignon), museum catalogues...... and some of his literary works, little known by the general public.

Datos de interés:

Entrance:
Free

----------TIMETABLE:----------

Weekdays:
From 11.00 - 13.45 and
From 16.00 - 18.00.
 
Saturdays:
From 10.00 - 14.00 and
From 16,00 – 19,00

Sundays and Holidays:
From 10.00 - 14.00

Closed every Monday.
Closed every Wednesday from 16,00 – 18,00




TRANSLATED BY BETTY JOHNSON