The exhibition presents a selection of drawings as well as an original portrait of Boris Kochno, the right-hand man of Diaghilev. The artist also started to draw moving ballerinas and bodies. For Picasso, this company was the opportunity of important encounters: with his future wife, dancer Olga Khokhlova, but also with new collaborators and friends such as Léonide Massine and Jean Cocteau of whom he drew caricatures.

However, he really discovered the ballet world from the 1910s and his first collaborations with Serge Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes.

Very early in his career, Picasso gave a significant place to dance. Rosenberg, 1920 | BnF, Estampes et photographie © Succession Picasso 2018 Pablo Picasso (after), Le Tricorne: final set model (1919) plate from the portfolio: Trente-deux reproductions de maquettes en couleurs d’après les originaux des costumes et décors par Picasso pour le ballet Le Tricorne Paris, P. Through some 130 works and documents rarely presented in France, the exhibition discloses the major role of dance in Picasso’s life. The Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Opéra national de Paris explore the various facets of Picasso’s relationship to dance, from Picasso’s role as set and costume designer for the Ballets Russes to the place that this art played in his work. Picasso et la danse (Picasso and dance) opened yesterday, June 19, in Paris at the Bibliothèque-musée de l’Opéra, Palais Garnier.

Danse opera garnier