Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds

The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), perhaps the most innovative and influential artist of the 20th century. The Cincinnati Art Museum is celebrating his legacy with an unprecedented exhibition, the first to examine Picasso’s lifelong engagement with landscape. Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds brings to our galleries paintings and sculptures by the artist from some 25 public and private collections across the United States and Europe.

Picasso used landscape throughout his life to establish himself in new surroundings and to push forward into new styles of painting and sculpture. Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds traces the elemental role of place, environment, and interface between humanity and the natural world in his art. Through representations of landscape, Picasso advanced dialogues with key artists of the previous centuries, from Nicolas Poussin to Paul Cézanne, embedding himself within the European painting tradition, while insisting on a status apart.

Conceived by leading Picasso scholar Laurence Madeline, organized by the American Federation of Arts, and presented at The Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC) and the Cincinnati Art Museum, this is the first exhibition to comprehensively present Picasso’s fertile engagement with landscape over his 75-year career.

This exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts with guest curator Laurence Madeline and the exceptional support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris.