“Picasso has simply become the symbol of creation”
Discussion in Budapest with Laurent Le Bon, director of the Picasso Museum in Paris, and Emilie Bouvard, curator of the exhibition at the Hungarian National Gallery
Laurent Le Bon, who has headed the Picasso Museum in Paris for two years, came to Budapest for the opening of Hungary’s largest ever Picasso exhibition, curated by art historian Emilie Bouvard. Three-quarters of the works on display are from Paris. Le Bon spoke about his museum, relations with the Picasso family, and his own plans, while Bouvard primarily spoke about the Budapest exhibition.
The hierarchy of French public collections is quite strict. Since 2010 the Picasso Museum has been in the top “public administrative category”. What does that mean?
Laurent Le Bon: Maybe hierarchy is not the right term. The essence is that the relevant cultural ministry aims to increase the independence of museums and at the same time their responsibility. The categories indicate the level of autonomy for individual museums. We have been in the top category for six years, thus we have the greatest independence. For example, unlike my American and British colleagues, I am both the president and the director of the institute. Maybe a museum can have greater autonomy, but that would mean a private museum.
What are the most important bodies of the museum?
Laurent Le Bon: Our highest decision-making body is the Board of Directors, but important roles are also played by the scientific and acquisitions committees. Their members are appointed for a set period by the Minister of Culture on my recommendation. I was appointed for five years, which can be extended by three years twice. The state and the Paris municipality are represented in the bodies at a high level. Other members include important personalities in economic and political life, as well as representatives of the museum. Representatives of the Picasso family are also involved. Claude Picasso, the artist’s son, is on the Board. One of his grandsons, Bernard Picasso, is on the Scientific Committee.
What are the museum’s finances like?
Laurent Le Bon: Our annual budget is 15 million euros, of which three million is from public finance, mostly in the form of regular state support, though it’s not sure that support is the best term, since we provide a service for the state in that we look after, analyse and exhibit a collection. We receive public finance exclusively from the state, while we actually pay the municipality a small amount in as rent, since our building is owned by the city. Occasionally, for example with large acquisitions, we have received specific support from the state.
You became director in difficult circumstances when, due to prolonged reconstruction and expansion, the museum was closed and could only reopen in autumn 2014. What changes have you implemented?
Laurent Le Bon: My ideal is a museum in continuous development. That is valid for what happens within the museum as well as outside – first of all within, because (sometimes without good reason) there are certain preconceptions concerning a specialist museum. These involve seeing such institutes as memorials and mausoleums, so it’s enough to visit them once. We like to see some bustling life within the museum, which refutes such views. Naturally, it is also important to radiate stability. We have to present ‘the real Picasso’ to people. One of my priorities is to consider countries where Picasso’s works have never appeared and take them there. For example, to Africa.
That seems exciting, as Picasso derived much inspiration from African arts.
Laurent Le Bon: It would be interesting to present his works in such an environment, but I don’t want to tell Africans what kind of exhibition to stage, that would be a ‘colonialist’ approach. I would like them to say what they would like, then we can help realise those conceptions.
I suppose good relations with the Picasso family are very significant.
Laurent Le Bon: Of course, for several reasons. But let me note that it is a basic interest for a museum director to maintain good relations with everyone. In many aspects the work involves diplomacy. The basis of our collection is formed by 5000 works of art and 200,000 documents. It represents Picasso with his works which, after the master’s death, the family were given the possibility by law to donate to the state in lieu of paying inheritance tax. The later expansion of the collection is mainly thanks to the family’s donations.
What makes Picasso the most well-known and surely the most popular artist of the 20th century?
Laurent Le Bon: I’d be avoiding the question if I only say that his works are of outstanding quality. That is surely one side, but it is accompanied by his unparalleled variety and quantity. Just think of it – 70,000 works and 70,000 times you can discover his uniqueness. Picasso has simply become the symbol of creation.
You both regularly speak with countless people about Picasso, thus you know what kind of image we have of the artist. How much does that correspond to the truth?
Laurent Le Bon: Firstly, although many people believe it, not everyone sees in Picasso one of the great geniuses of the 20th century.
Emilie Bouvard: The most noted biographers, John Richardson and Pierre Daix, have rendered a great service in this regard, in that they were able to interpret his career with a combination of biographical and art history considerations. Others have exaggerated Picasso’s public and political involvement and judge or disapprove of him based on their own convictions. All the approaches are partly true, but those who deal with these questions too much lose sight of the essence. It’s no wonder that many people don’t like Picasso very much and it’s true that he doesn’t offer light, easily digestible fare.
Where does the Budapest exhibition fit among the foreign presentations of the Picasso Museum?
Laurent Le Bon: The Budapest exhibition is clearly the most important of our foreign undertakings this year. There has been no large-scale Picasso exhibition in Hungary since 1993. In the meantime, an entire generation has grown up. We have brought 74 works to Budapest. We can only show such a large amount of material with such quality in one place at a time, since although our collection has 5000 Picasso works only about 250 are paintings.
Ms Bouvard, have you been dealing with Picasso throughout your career so far?
Emilie Bouvard: I didn’t start as a curator at the museum two and a half years ago as a Picasso specialist, though of course I knew his works well. Among my favourite themes, his oeuvre featured prominently. I think he is the starting point of much, the starting point in contemporary art.
The Budapest exhibition has block-buster potential, but I suppose that was not the main ambition.
Making a block-buster is not my conception. The reception will decide about that. Of course, I see no problem if that happens, but my basic aim was to guide the viewer through the constant changes of approach in the representational painting of Picasso. I often say – and with this exhibition I am trying to underline – that Picasso’s art cannot be explained with his biography.
Although not appearing in the exhibition, the catalogue contains documents with a Hungarian connection held in the archive. What type of material is that and have Hungarian specialists researched it?
Emilie Bouvard: We hold about 200,000 documents and almost 20,000 photos, including official documents, Picasso’s letters and newspaper articles. As far as I know, the documents with a Hungarian connection found in the archive were previously unknown to Hungarian specialists. Most of them date from October to December, 1956, and are letters sent to Picasso concerning Hungary’s revolution and its suppression. Their authors include French people, Hungarians living in France and representatives of Hungarian artistic life such as Béla Czóbel, who had good relations with Picasso during his years spent in Paris.
You spent almost two weeks here in the immediate period of preparation, but you had already been in touch with Hungarian specialists for a longer time. How was the cooperation?
Emilie Bouvard: It was very agreeable and also a great challenge. Our museum is relatively small, with a much smaller staff than the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery. That means that with us each person has to handle several tasks. There is less specialisation. A curator is essentially a cultural project manager and there is less time for scholarly research or educational work. It was interesting to compare our experience. There was good teamwork involved in the preparation of this exhibition.