Overview
- The exhibition, titled “Picasso. Raíces bíblicas,” opened after a March 2 inauguration by Queen Sofía and is on view through June 29 in the cathedral’s Sala Beato Valentín Palencia.
- It marks the first time Picasso’s works have been presented inside a cathedral, positioning modern art within a sacred setting.
- Thirty-one works come from the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz‑Picasso para el Arte (FABA), with additional loans from the Reina Sofía, the Thyssen‑Bornemisza, the Picasso museums in Barcelona, Málaga and Paris, Montserrat, and a private collection.
- Spanning 1896 to 1971, the selection includes early altar‑boy studies, pacifist symbols such as doves and the shepherd with a lamb, and a 1937 study anticipating Guernica.
- The centerpiece is Maternity (1921), which the curator cites as a paradigmatic hybrid of biblical resonance and Picasso’s blend of classicism and Cubist heritage, while the artist’s grandson frames the show as a recovery of his Spanish roots, recalling a 1934 visit to Burgos.