Gagosian is set to close a chapter in its history, the end of its residence at its 980 Madison location in the Upper East Side, with an exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso.
Presented in collaboration with the artist’s daughter Paloma Picasso, “Picasso: Tête-à-Tête” will open April 18 and showcase more than 50 rarely seen paintings, sculptures, and drawings spanning Picasso’s entire career, from 1896 to 1972. Nearly a dozen of these works will be unveiled to the public for the first time, while others return to view after decades in private hands.
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This exhibition marks a poignant farewell to Gagosian’s flagship 980 Madison Avenue location, which was first reported in 2023. The building was originally designed for auction house Parke-Bernet, which was acquired by Sotheby’s in the 1960s and then vacated the building in 1987. Gagosian’s has been at 980 Madison Avenue since 1989, though its Upper East Side presence is not moving far as renovations are currently underway at street-facing spaces at 976 Madison Avenue.
Drawn in large part from Picasso’s estate, “Picasso: Tête-à-Tête,” the gallery’s 21st show dedicated to the Cubist master, will be the Paloma’s first major international exhibition since she was appointed head of the Picasso Administration in 2023. Many of Gagosian’s previous shows have been collaborations with other members of the Picasso family, including the artist’s grandchildren Bernard Ruiz-Picasso and Diana Widmaier Picasso, and the artist’s son Claude Pierre Pablo Picasso.
(The appetite for good Picasso shows is boundless, as proven last year. A few weeks later, on May 1, the dealer Almine Rech will present “Pablo Picasso: Still Life” in collaboration with Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, which she cofounded with her husband in 2002.)
Gagosian’s exhibition takes inspiration from Picasso’s own approach to curation. Records show that in his 1932 retrospective at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris, he eschewed strict chronology in favor of a dynamic dialogue between works from different periods and styles. “Picasso: Tête-à-Tête” follows this model, juxtaposing paintings, sculptures, and drawings from across his oeuvre to invite fresh interpretations of the artist’s boundless creativity.
Gagosian will publish a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue featuring a conversation between Paloma and artist Peter Doig, who curated an exhibition at the 980 Madison space last fall. The publication will also include a translation of an article by critic Eric Tériade on Picasso’s 1932 Paris installation, further contextualizing the exhibition’s approach.
“I was delighted when Larry suggested we work together on a significant exhibition,” Paloma said in a statement. “Showing my father’s work as he wanted it to be seen—in conversation across subjects and periods—is a fitting tribute to his legacy. A number of the works we selected haven’t been seen since my father had them in his studio, and to have them reunited with important examples from other collections will be a very special event.”