Suite Lord

The Suite Vollard,created between 1930 and ’37,reveals a grand preoccupation with classical themes. In a few of the etchings,Picasso metamorphoses into the half-man half-bull Minotaur possessing his muse and lover Marie-Therese. The Minotaur series is not just about love approaching brawny bestiality,but about artist as untamed beast. The other themes in the set,which is often cited as containing Picasso’s best prints,include “Rembrandt”,“The Sculptor’s Studio” and “Battle of Love”. There are three portraits of Vollard as well,the last works in the suite.

“I have been thinking of getting the works to India for more than two years,” says Oscar Pujol,director of the Instituto Cervantes,New Delhi,who is exhibiting the work in collaboration with the Spanish cultural institute Fundacion Mapfre. “I am conscious that Picasso is one of the few Spanish artists who is well-known in India but a lot of people do not know that he is Spanish,and we wanted to insist his Spanish origins.” Adds Nuria González Ortín,communications manager at the Instituto: “It is very rare that the complete set of 100 works is shown. This is a collection from the first edition dating back to the 1930s.”

The Spanish extravaganza continues in other forms too — the Andalusian Agency for the Development of Flamenco will present flamenco dance on November 12,José María Balcells from the University of Léon and Shyama Prasad Ganguly of the Jawaharlal Nehru University will discuss the Presence of Eastern Thought in the Poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez on November 13. Spanish movies will be screened at the centre on November 14 and 15 and the exhibition “Surprises of Cosmos”,comprising astronomy pictures from November 16 to 24.

The Suite Vollard will be exhibited till January 20