Picasso's Regjeringskvartalet murals
Picasso's Regjeringskvartalet murals are a series of murals designed by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in the late 1950s and the early 1970s. He designed five murals (The Beach, The Seagull, Satyr and Faun and two versions of The Fishermen) for the Regjeringskvartalet ('Government quarter') buildings in central Oslo, Norway.[1] The designs by Picasso were executed in concrete by Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, and were Picasso's first attempt at monumental concrete murals.[1][2] The buildings onto which the murals were executed are known as the 'H-Block' or Highrise (1959) and 'Y-Block' (1968); they were designed by the Norwegian architect Erling Viksjø.[3] The largest mural, The Fishermen (1970) is on the façade of Y-Block. Picasso would later create works in a similar vein in Barcelona and Stockholm.[2]
2011 Norway attacks
The Regjeringskvartalet complex was badly damaged by a car bomb that exploded on 22 July 2011.[1] The Highrise block and the Y-Block had no structural damages after the bombing. Despite this a long discourse took place, as the government wanted to demolish both buildings by Architect Erling Viksjø. The H-Block was saved, but the Y-Block is under threat.[1] The Regjeringskvartalet government complex is Norway's most iconic modernist buildings.[1]
The Y-Block of 1969 and the H-Block of 1958 form the modernist contribution to the government quarter of Oslo. Just before the attack in 2011, both buildings were about to be granted protection by the Directorate of Cultural Heritage. Experts inside and outside of Norway agree on its immeasurable value and have tried to convince the government to stop the demolition plans. Europa Nostra included the Y-Block in its list of Europe's most endangered buildings in 2020.
The Y-Block is one of Viksjø's most beautiful buildings constructed in Naturbetong, a special concrete casting technique he developed together with engineer Sverre Jystad that was patented in 1955/-57. The possibilities that lay in this new material with sandblasted surfaces were decisive for Picasso's contribution and lead to a 17-year long collaboration with the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar. The development of Naturbetong with its integration of art is a unique contribution to Norwegian and international modernism. Only one other building worldwide, the House of Architects in Barcelona, has this kind of integral art by Picasso and Nesjar in a public space.
The murals were subsequently listed as one of Europe's most endangered heritage sites in 2015 by the heritage organisation Europa Nostra following the Norwegian cabinet's vote to demolish the Y-Block building.[4]
Relocation
In November 2020 the murals of the Y Building were removed and put in a storage and the building was torn down.
References
- ^ a b c d e Tony Paterson (18 August 2013). "Norway's 'ugly' buildings – with a touch of Picasso's genius – under threat of demolition". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
- ^ a b Clemens Bomsdorf (14 January 2013). "Picasso murals under threat". The Art Newspaper.
- ^ "Picasso – Oslo. Art and architecture in the Government quarter". Visit Oslo. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013.
- ^ Henri Neuendorf. "Picasso Mural in Norway Among Europe's Most Threatened Heritage Sites". ArtNet News. ArtNet. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
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- Le petit picador jaune (1889)
- Science and Charity (1897)
- Le Moulin de la Galette (1900)
- The Appointment (1901)
- Child with a Dove (1901)
- La Gommeuse (1901)
- Yo, Picasso (1901)
- Portrait of Jaime Sabartés (1901)
- The Blue Room (1901)
- Femme aux Bras Croisés (1901-02)
- Old Jewish Man with a Boy (1903)
- The Old Guitarist (1903)
- La Vie (1903)
- Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto (1903)
- Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904)
- The Actor (1904-1905)
- Woman Ironing (1904)
- Girl in a Chemise (c. 1905)
- Acrobat and Young Harlequin (1905)
- Family of Saltimbanques (1905)
- Garçon à la pipe (1905)
- Girl on a Ball (1905)
- Les Noces de Pierrette (1905)
- Au Lapin Agile (1905)
- Young Girl with a Flower Basket (1905)
- Famille d'acrobates avec singe (1905)
- Boy Leading a Horse (1905–06)
- Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905–06)
- Head of a Young Woman (1906)
- Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
- Woman with a Fan (1908)
- Brick Factory at Tortosa (1909)
- Woman with a Fan (1909)
- Femme et pot de moutarde (1910)
- Girl with a Mandolin (1910)
- Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1910)
- Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1910)
- The Accordionist (1911)
- Le pigeon aux petits pois (1911)
- La Coiffeuse (1911)
- Violon et Raisins (1912)
- Bottle, Glass, Fork (1912)
- Ma Jolie (1912)
- Arlequin (1913)
- Ma Jolie (1914)
- Three Musicians (1921)
- Reading the Letter (c. 1921)
- The Pipes of Pan (1923)
- The Three Dancers (1925)
- Woman in a Red Armchair (1929)
- Le Repos (1932)
- Girl before a Mirror (1932)
- La Lecture (1932)
- Le Rêve (1932)
- Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932)
- Nude in a Black Armchair (1932)
- Femme à la montre (1932)
- Two Girls Reading (1934)
- Jeune Fille Endormie (1935)
- Guernica (1937)
- Portrait of Dora Maar (1937)
- Woman in Hat and Fur Collar (1937)
- The Weeping Woman (1937)
- Girl with a Red Beret and Pompom (1937)
- Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) (1937)
- Maya with Doll (1938)
- Woman's Head (1939)
- Dora Maar au Chat (1941)
- The Charnel House (1944–1945)
- Nature morte au poron (1948)
- Massacre in Korea (1951)
- Les Femmes d'Alger series (1955)
- Las Meninas (1957)
- The Fall of Icarus (1958)
- Bust of a Seated Woman (Jacqueline Roque) (1960)
- Jacqueline (1961)
- Femme au Chien (1962)
- Bust of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse) (1931)
- Tête de femme (Dora Maar) (1941)
- Bull's Head (1942)
- Baboon and Young (1951)
- Figure découpée (1963, 1964, 1965)
- Chicago Picasso (1967)
- Sylvette (1970)
- Vollard Suite (1930–1937)
- Minotaur Kneeling over Sleeping Girl (1933)
- Minotauromachy (1935)
- The Dream and Lie of Franco (1937)
- 347 Series (1968)
- Girl from Majorca (1905)
- Don Quixote (1955)
- Toros y toreros (1961)
- Le Taureau (1945-1946)
- Dove (1949)
- Regjeringskvartalet murals
- Desire Caught by the Tail (c. 1941)
- The Four Little Girls (c. 1947–48)
- Picasso and the Ballets Russes
- Parade
- The Three-Cornered Hat
- Pulcinella
- Le Train Bleu
- Mercure
- Musée Picasso (Paris)
- Musée Picasso (Antibes)
- Museu Picasso (Barcelona)
- Museo Picasso Málaga (Malaga)
- Museo Casa Natal (Malaga)
- Château de Boisgeloup (Normandy)
- Olga Khokhlova (first wife)
- Jacqueline Roque (second wife)
- Maya Widmaier-Picasso (daughter)
- Claude Picasso (son)
- Paloma Picasso (daughter)
- Diana Widmaier Picasso (granddaughter)
- Marina Picasso (granddaughter)
- Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (grandson)
- José Ruiz y Blasco (father)
(France)
- Bateau-Lavoir (Montmartre Paris)
- Villa La Vigie (Juan-les-Pins, Summer 1924)
- Château de Boisgeloup (Gisors, 1930-1937)
- Château of Vauvenargues (Vauvenargues, 1958-1962)
- Villa La Californie (Cannes, 1955-1961)
- Château de Vie (Mougins, 1961-1973)
television about
- Visit to Picasso (1949)
- Guernica (1950)
- The Mystery of Picasso (1956)
- The Adventures of Picasso (1978)
- Surviving Picasso (1996)
- Picasso: Magic, Sex & Death (2001)
- Modigliani (2004)
- Genius (2018 TV series)
- Carles Casagemas
- Carl Nesjar
- Lydia Corbett
- Lump (dog)
- Fundación Picasso
- Picasso. In the heart of darkness (1939-1945) (2019-2020 exhibition)
- Picasso & Lump (2006 book)
- Picasso referendum of Basel
- Theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria
- Portrait of Pablo Picasso (1915 painting)
- "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso" (1924 poem)
- Woman, Bird, Star (Homage to Pablo Picasso) (1973 painting)
- "Pablo Picasso" (1976 song)
- The Blue Guitar (1977 etchings)
- Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1993 play)
- Picasso (crater)