Picasso and Naples: Parade

FROM 8 th APRIL THE EXHIBITION ‘Picasso and Naples: Parade’
Museum and Real Bosco of Capodimonte, Naples
Antiquarium, Pompeii's archaeological site: 8 th April - 10 th July 2017
In 2017, Naples and Pompeii will celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Picasso's visit to Italy, which the artist undertook with Jean Cocteau in order to work with the Ballets Russes on Parade, a ballet that would premiere on stage in Paris in May 1917, on a subject conceived by Cocteau himself and with music by Erik Satie. During his visit to our country, the artist went to Naples twice between March and April 1917, and to Pompeii.

For the occasion, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, Pompeii's Superintendency, the Museum and ‘Real Bosco’ of Capodimonte and the Rome Opera House, with the support of the Campania Region, the Donnaregina Regional Foundation for contemporary arts and the regional company Scabec, and with the production and organisation of Electa, are promoting the exhibition ‘Picasso and Naples: Parade’, which is taking place in Capodimonte and Pompeii run by Sylvain Bellenger and Luigi Gallo. The exhibition allows us to highlight the importance of the direct meeting of Picasso with the antiquity in Pompeii, and above all with traditional Neapolitan culture, in an entirely new dimension of Picasso's studies through some of its greatest expressions – the nativity scene, the popular theatre and the puppet theatre. With ‘Parade’, the cubist painter returns to his first source of inspiration linked to the circus, and renews interest in the classic tradition, later recalled by Cocteau in his ‘A Call to Order’.

The Antiquarium of Pompeii will house the ballet costumes designed by the artist, who visited Pompeii in
March 1917. To confirm the influence of theatrical iconography on Picasso's art and to celebrate his passion
for masks, the costumes will be compared with a collection of African masks, alongside a selection of archaeological finds from the site, including a group of theatrical masks, for the most part never seen before (antefixes, embossed slabs, herms, statues, etc.). The Teatro Grande in Pompeii will host three encore performances of Parade and Pulcinella on 27 th , 28 th and 29 th July.

Museum and Real Bosco of Capodimonte, Via Miano 2, Naples
Antiquarium, Pompeii's archaeological site

Opening hours
Everyday except Wednesdays: 8.30 a.m. - 7.30 p.m. (last entrance at 6.30 p.m.)
Antiquarium, Pompeii's archaeological site are open everyday 9 a.m. - 7.30 p.m. (last entrance at 6.00 p.m.)
Closed on 1 st May.

Info
www.museocapodimonte.beniculturali.it
- Download the Press Kit Picasso Parade