Spotlight: An Illuminating Exhibition in Geneva Features Rare Ceramic Works by Picasso, Including a Heretofore Unseen Portrait of His Son, Claude

Iconic 20th century artist Pablo Picasso is widely known for his innovations within Cubism and abstraction as well as inspiring generations of other artists. He was also a prodigious ceramics maker. Beginning in 1947, Picasso went on to make well over 3,000 ceramic works in his lifetime—both unique pieces and limited edition runs—featuring an array of intriguing compositions and motifs, inspired by everything from Classical antiquity and mythology to everyday life.

Bailly Gallery’s Geneva location, at 19 Place Longemalle, is currently presenting “Picasso,” an exhibition featuring a collection of works by the artist, including a painting showing a painter and model (), a series of drawings, and a selection of exclusively unique ceramics. Together, the exhibition highlights a specific and dynamic range from the artists oeuvre and illustrates the breadth of Picasso’s monumental talent.

Of the works included, one ceramic is particularly exciting: a new discovery, since confirmed by the Picasso Administration, of a unique piece depicting the artist’s son Claude Picasso as a child. Claude frequented Bailly Gallery and had personal connections to its staff, lending a sense of poignancy to the ceramic’s inclusion, and operating as a small tribute to him in light of his very recent passing late last month in August 2023.

Complimented by the painting, drawings, and a range of other ceramics, the unique edition ceramic featuring Claude as a boy offers a rare opportunity to view a new, sentimental facet to the famous artist’s practice. The show is on view through November 4, 2023, and presents a concise, yet captivating, survey of Picasso practice’s, as well as a glimpse into a more obscured side of it .