Spain is culture

23/09/2022 - 08/01/2023 - Madrid / Exhibition

Julio González, Pablo Picasso and the dematerialisation of sculpture

The exhibition explores the collaboration between these two artists, friends since the days of modernist Barcelona, during the period from 1928 to 1932. Joint work that would lead to one of the essential milestones in 20th-century international art: the development of a new type of sculpture where mass and volume are replaced by compositions of open planes, new materials and techniques; and the void emerges as a new defining element.

It all begins when Picasso asks Julio González for technical help after receiving a commission to create a monument in memory of his friend Guillaume Apollinaire. This creative encounter was to bear fruit for both artists. González, who had researched metal sculpture as a natural byproduct of his trade as a goldsmith, would produce a series of dematerialised sculptures that would hold his focus for the rest of his career, and which would earn him posthumous recognition as one of the fathers of abstract iron sculpture.  And Picasso not only learned about forging and iron welding, but also created some of the most relevant sculptures of the 20th century, such as "Woman in the Garden".

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