Picasso and the Exodus. A Spanish History of Art in Resistance / ¡Dulces Sueños! / “I am a Native Foreigner”: Exhibition Program in Occitanie Region

Picasso and the Exodus. A Spanish History of Art in Resistance
Les Abattoirs presents an exhibition dedicated for the first time to the relationship between Picasso and the Spanish Exodus. It explores how the historical and personal upheaval of the Exodus affected Picasso and many artists of his generation. 

In 1937, a year after the start of the Spanish Civil War, while he was working on a painting commissioned for the Spanish Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris, Picasso learned of the bombing of Guernica and radically altered his initial theme. 

In 1939, after three years of war, 500,000 Spaniards crossed the French-Spanish border before transferring to refugee camps. Following La Retirada, many Spaniards who were living abroad, like Picasso, who had been living in Paris since 1900, thus became political exiles. 

The situation strengthened Picasso’s political engagement against Francoism, both in his art and in his support for the Spanish exiles, particularly artists. 40 of them are exhibited alongside him, such as Óscar Domínguez, Apel.les Fenosa, Luis Fernández, Julio González, Roberta González, Hans Hartung, Antonio Rodríguez Luna, Joan Miró, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, and Remedios Varo. Also evoked are those who created while living in refugee camps, as was the case for Antoni Clavé or J.Fín and Javier Vilató, Picasso’s nephews; or while working as a nurse, like photographer Friedel Bohny-Reiter. Making the fervent wish only to return to Spain once liberated from Francoism, Picasso died in 1973 without having seen his native country again. 

A contemporary art section, inviting 20 artists, completes this exhibition. The works bear testament to Picasso’s message of freedom and peace while others address the theme of exile today.

¡Dulces Sueños! Artists from the Contemporary Spanish Scene
The exhibition ¡Dulces Sueños! focuses on contemporary Spanish artists, whose works are characterized by their political commitment. The exhibition opens on a video by Carlos Aires, a surprising tango performed in a baroque setting by two police officers in combat gear, to the sound of Sweet Dreams (“Dulces Sueños”) by The Eurythmics. 

The artists question how even today Spanish history re-emerges in society, while the old debates on the Civil War continue to mark current events, especially the forgotten identity of the anonymous dead during the war. These artists also question the resurgences of postcolonial history and the challenges of global history: a history that has meant—and means—that we chose and still choose to exploit others economically, culturally, sexually, or politically. When will the “sweet dreams” become realities?

Pilar Albarracín, Carlos Aires, Daniel García Andújar, Jordi Colomer, Democracia, Esther Ferrer,Dora García, Núria Güell, Glenda León, Eugenio Merino, Daniela Ortiz,G. Romero, Oriol Vilanova

I am a Native Foreigner: exhibition program in Occitanie Region
Les Abattoirs present an exhibition program focused on exile, named I am a Native Foreigner (from the writer Amin Maalouf’s expression). It gathers more than 60 artists of 29 nationalities, in total parity, in 25 exhibitions in all the Occitanie Region, in places like hospitals, castles, gardens, and so on. The artists presented work on departure, displacement, uprooting, and re-rooting. These works with political resonance are firmly anchored in history, but also within a universal human reality: change, fear, identity, freedom, and cultural exchange. Four axes guide this program: Born in Exile, March to Live, Landscapes of the Exodus, The Crossing.

Lida Abdul, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Carlos Aires, Pilar Albarracín, Lara Almarcegui, Halil Altindere, Ron Amir, Malala Andrialavidrazana, Daniel Andújar, Paula Anke, Marcos Avila Forero, Babi Badalov, Raphaël Barontini, Walter Barrientos, Eduardo Basualdo, Rossella Biscotti, Gaël Bonnefon, Julie Chaffort, Antoni Clavé, Julien Creuzet, Sonia Delaunay, Hélène Delprat, Damien Deroubaix, Jimmie Durham, Emma Dusong, Tracey Emin, Ninar Esber, Esther Ferrer, Marco Godinho, Núria Güell, Margaret Harrison, Laura Henno, Hessie, Khaled Hourani, Alfredo Jaar, Joan Jordà, Hiwa K, Sister Corita Kent, Bouchra Khalili, Evangelia Kranioti, Lawrence Lemaoana, Glenda León, Pascal Lièvre, Robert Longo, Taus Makhacheva, Teresa Margolles, Cildo Meireles, Adrian Paci, Serge Pey, Liliana Porter, Libia Posada, Présence Panchounette, Enrique Ramírez, James Richard, Édith Roux, Stéphanie Saadé, Mario Schifano, Zineb Sedira, Nissrine Seffar, Carlos Uribe, Nil Yalter, Raphaël Zarka, etc.