The Sociedad Económica Amigos del País de Málaga showcases its Plastic Arts Section and Picasso's artistic legacy in an exhibition

The exhibition "Exhibition Picasso. Sociedad Económica, Málaga 1936", sponsored by the Unicaja Foundation, tells the story of the unknown Plastic Arts Section of the institution and its attempt to bring a collection of Picasso's works to the city of Málaga. 

The Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País joins the "Celebración Picasso 1973-2023" with the exhibition "Exhibition Picasso. Sociedad Económica, Málaga 1936", sponsored by the Unicaja Foundation, which tells the story of the unknown Plastic Arts Section of the institution and its attempt to bring a collection of Picasso's works to the city of Málaga. 

The president of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, José María Ruiz Povedano, and the head of Plastic Arts at the Unicaja Foundation, Rafael Valentín López, presented the exhibition, which can be visited until 16 November at the headquarters of the institution, and which will include a complementary cycle of conferences by researchers and specialists in the work of the Malaga-born genius. 

The exhibition, curated by the historian Lucía Reigal and with the artistic contribution of the painter Fernando de la Rosa, combines the historical dissemination of the first attempt by the Sociedad Económica Amigos del País to bring the "Exhibition Picasso" to its exhibition rooms in 1936, with the technical-artistic exploration of the documentary sources and historical photographs of the most important milestones in this period of time. 

The exhibition is framed between the end of 1935 and March 1936 and begins with an introduction to the birth of the Plastic Arts Section of the Sociedad Económica Amigos del País and its work to disseminate the young art of the time. The second part of the exhibition focuses on the relations with the avant-garde group Amics de l'Art Nou (ADLAN) of Barcelona and Madrid to bring to Malaga a selection of works by Picasso, which could not be exhibited due to the socio-political context of the time, and the third part shows, by Fernando de la Rosa, the artistic interpretation of the exhibition and its context through letters, telegrams, drawings, photographs, press articles, notes and catalogues.

In addition, every Monday from 16 October to 13 November, the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Málaga is holding a series of lectures to explore the life and work of Picasso, which will be given by the historian and curator of the exhibition, Lucía Reigal; the art historian and researcher at the Museo Casa Natal Picasso, Carlos Ferrer; the art historian and researcher at the Museo Casa Natal Picasso, Carlos Ferrer; the art historian and researcher, Carlos Sarria; the painter and artistic director of the exhibition, Fernando de la Rosa; Picasso's biographer, Rafael Inglada; the head of Cultural Promotion of the Picasso Birthplace Museum, Mario Virgilio Montañez, and the director of the Picasso Birthplace Museum, José María Luna Aguilar.  

The talks will be held in the assembly hall of the headquarters of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Malaga at 19:00 with free admission. 

With this proposal, the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País seeks to show who the promoters of the "Exhibition Picasso" (1936) were, to explain the role played by its Plastic Arts Section, to investigate how it channelled the desire to vindicate the painter's origins and to analyse the context that made it impossible to hold the exhibition in Malaga. 

The exhibition "Exhibition Picasso. Economic Society, Malaga 1936" can be visited until 16 November from Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 14:00 and from 18:00 to 21:00, and Saturdays from 11:00 to 14:00 with free admission. 

Submitted by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanismo advisor.