Diurnes. Portfolio by Pablo Picasso and André Villers at Red Itiner

Comunidad de Madrid

In 1947, Pablo Picasso (Málaga,1881 – Mougins, 1973) went to live in the French city of Vallauris, near the Côte d’Azur, in order to experiment at its ceramics workshops. During his long stay there he came across the photographer André Villers (Beaucourt, France, 1930). A close relationship then began between the 72-year old artist and the young 23-year old photographer, which was to go beyond a working relationship and become a deep friendship. A period of artistic collaboration came out of this which continued for two decades and covered both documentary and experimental work.

Picasso and Villers, fascinated by the richness of their place of residence, Provence, embarked on an intense creative process which would lead to the suite Diurnes – from the Latin “diurnus”, of the day – made in 1962 and published with texts by the poet Jacques Prévert.

Shut away in the photographer’s darkroom in Lou Bladuc, the two artists produced just over a hundred originals of which thirty were selected for a lithograph edition.

The portfolio, which brings together photographic and lithographic techniques, is one of the few works in which Picasso used photography as a means of expression. Through superimposing and applying découpages – paper cuts – of figures, the artist recreates his mythical imaginary over the evocative black and white landscapes captured by Villers’ camera.

After its exhibition at the Museo de Obra Gráfica de San Clemente (Cuenca) and Centro Torrente Ballester de Ferrol (Galicia), during 2015 this work will be displayed in 13 cultural centers of the Community of Madrid within the program of traveling exhibitions of Red Itiner.