"Picasso/ Dali/ Goya" – Unpacking [PHOTOS+VIDEO]

Today, on July 21st, two boxes were opened, which included Pablo Picasso's "Scene From Bullfight" and Salvadore Dali's "Bullfight No. 4". Conservators Ryszard Wójtowicz and Danuta Drabik-Wójtowicz opened and examined the unpacked works in front of journalists. The paintings were measured and verified with the exhibition's documentation documents. The conservators also noted their remarks concerning the works' condition - minor dents in the paper, bulges or slight deformations in the corner of a painting.

Pablo Picasso painted the "Scene From Bullfight" in 1959. It is probably the most expensive work presented at the "Picasso/ Dali/ Goya - Tauromachia, walka byków" [Picasso/ Dali/ Goya - Tauromachia, The Bullfight"] exhibition. It is insured at 1.5 million euro, but its market value might be greater. "The work is not for sale, though" ensured the curators of the exhibition, Monica Burian Jourdan and Serenella Baccaglini. "The artist has made it in a technique, which is characteristic for him, i.e. by putting coloured glass on paper" said Monica Burian Jourdan. "The work is owned by Picasso's family, and has never been exhibited in public. It was leased especially for the exhibition. Bullfight is a very important topic in Picasso's oeuvre. The work is dated precisely on 25th March 1959. When asked why the works in his own house are not signed, Picasso himself would answer that he wasn't rich enough to afford a genuine Picasso. He considered a work becoming a genuine Picasso only when it was dated and signed" the curator reminded the anecdote. Another work drawn from a box today is "Bullfight No. 4" by Salvador Dali. "It is a unique litography from a series of seven works dedicated to corrida" pointed out Serenella Baccaglini. "It was a gift to Mrs. Phyllis Lucas, who was Dali's friend. The Lucas Publishing House published his works in America. The exhibition presents also a photograph of Dali signing the litograph, but this is not the only friendship story revealed there. Presented is also the story of great friendship between Pablo Picasso and a torero, Luis Miguel Dominguin and his wife, a renowned actress, Lucia Bose. The visitors will have plenty thing to discover at the exhibition" announced the curator. - Francisco Goya was the artist on whom the other two modelled" stressed Serenella Baccaglini. The style of his drawings still impresses, he was like a reporter fascinated with bullfights. Worth noticing is the drawing no. 33 , in which he demonstrated the horrific death of a famous torero, Jose Delgado, the author of "The Tauromaquia Tractate". A hundred years later Picasso illustrated the book. Dali, however, was not so much fascinated with bulls as with the myth of the Minotaur, a tale about a clash of mind with primordial force. A picture that inspired Dali, Canaletto's image of a bullfight at St. Mark's Square, was brought in especially for the exhibition in Wrocław. The exhibition "Picasso/ Dali/ Goya - Tauromachia, walka byków" [Picasso/ Dali/ Goya - Tauromachia, The Bullfight"] presents ca. 340 works of the great Spanish masters. The artworks come from the collection of the Picasso Foundation in Malaga, and also from private collections in Switzerland and New York. "I hope that the exhibition will be visited by 100,000 audience" said Marta Czyż, the spokesperson of the Museum of Architecture. Agnieszka Kołodyńska "Picasso/ Dali/ Goya - Tauromachia, walka byków" [Picasso/ Dali/ Goya - Tauromachia, The Bullfight"], open from July 24th to November 16th in the Museum of Architecture. The organizer of the exhibition is Galeria Miejska we Wrocławiu [the City Gallery in Wrocław] and the Art For Public Association, and the patron is the European Culture Capital Wrocław 2016.

Entrance tickets cost: 40 PLN - regular, 20 PLN - reduced, group (above 10 people) - 30 PLN - regular, 15 PLN - reduced, family (2 adults and 1-5 children) - 70 PLN, the disabled with a caretaker - 20 PLN (reduced), children up to 3 years - admission free.