Picasso and rain in Seattle

We had "everything" weather this weekend-- drenching rain and black clouds followed by short bursts of bright blue sky. The wind is howling this morning, and the rain is still beating on the windows. Now I'm wondering why I took the time to clean them last week.

Yesterday morning, we went downtown to the Seattle Art Museum to see the new Picasso exhibition. Our favorite time to visit SAM is early Sunday to take advantage of free on-street parking (providing you can find it) and light crowds (providing other early birds don't have the same idea.) The Seahawks were playing a home game at 1:00, so downtown was already buzzing by 9:30 am. But we lucked out and found a tiny free parking space for Little Beep, right across from the museum. Wow.
And we joined a crowd of people huddled outside in the wind, waiting for the doors to open. Very unusual! But this is a large, well-publicized temporary exhibit, with over 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs loaned from the Musée National Picasso. Picasso's works are scattered everywhere in public and private collections, but this museum in Paris has the largest, most important collection. You may wonder why such priceless works would travel to our little corner of the world? Well, the French museum is now closed for renovation, creating the opportunity for a big global tour.

Picasso was a wildly prolific artist for over 80 years, and these works of art are from his "personal" collection. I guess this simply means these are the works he wouldn't (or couldn't) sell, although that is impossible to imagine. Most are masterpieces. A few of the paintings are unfinished, but all his major periods were shown in chronological order, which made the exhibit especially interesting. Blue period, cubist period, etc. etc. if you remember your art history. And underneath the wild colors, geometric shapes and crazy abstractions...the man could really draw. There were many beautiful examples, and we both agreed the fine drawings were our favorite part of the exhibit.

Of course, no photography is allowed inside SAM, but here's two paintings I downloaded from their website. If you live in Seattle, you should go and see this exhibition.

Cat Catching a Bird, April 22, 1939
Oil on canvas, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Spanish, (worked in France)
Courtesy Musée National Picasso, Paris


Portrait of Dora Maar, 1937
Oil on canvas, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Spanish, (worked in France)
Courtesy Musée National Picasso, Paris