The National Gallery of Ireland is opening an exhibition titled "Picasso: From the Studio" that shifts focus from the artist's famous subjects—such as weeping women and bullfighting—to the physical spaces where he created his work. Curated by Janet McLean and Joanne Snrech, the show draws heavily from the Musée Picasso in Paris and includes over 100 works, ranging from early pieces made from scraps to late paintings like *Musician* (1972). The exhibition recreates the atmosphere of key studios through paintings, film, and photographs, including iconic images by Dora Maar of Picasso painting *Guernica* (1937). The gallery owns only one Picasso painting, *Still Life with a Mandolin* (1924), which is included.
This exhibition matters because it offers a rare, intimate lens into Picasso's creative process by examining the studios as both archives and stages for his life and work. By focusing on spaces rather than just finished artworks, the show reveals how Picasso curated his environments for photographers like Lee Miller, Brassaï, and Robert Capa, and how those spaces reflected his relationships, including with Marie-Thérèse Walter, Françoise Gilot, and Jacqueline Roque. The show runs from 9 October 2025 to 22 February 2026 and provides a new way to understand a notoriously difficult genius through the rooms where his art was born.