ICYMI: Picasso-mania #RetroAGO
Picasso: Painting the Blue Period goes on view today for AGO Members and Saturday for Annual Pass holders. In case you missed it, take a look back over fifty years to the first time Picasso-mania swept the AGO.
Visitors outside Gallery entrance (taken on the last Sunday of the exhibition). Photo courtesy of the AGO.
Picasso: Painting the Blue Period goes on view today for AGO Members and Saturday for Annual Pass holders, but this isn't the first time Picasso-mania has swept the AGO. Take a look below at some exclusive images from our first-ever Picasso exhibition, over fifty years ago.
Back in 1964, the Art Gallery of Toronto (as the AGO was then called) thrilled Toronto audiences with the first-ever Canadian retrospective of Pablo Picasso’s work. The month-long visual extravaganza showcased 270 artworks on loan from all over the world. By 1960s standards, the numbers are astounding: 107,214 visitors came through our doors and 23,736 copies of the catalogue were sold.
We have photos to prove it, including around-the-block lineups (including the old Art Gallery of Toronto façade) and bustling galleries. The AGO wouldn’t have another Picasso exhibition of this scale until 2012.
Picasso and Man, view of central fountain in Walker Court. Photo courtesy of the AGO.
Image courtesy of the AGO.
Image courtesy of the AGO.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for for Insider coverage of Picasso: Painting the Blue Period. In the meantime find out more about the exhibition here.