Calder-Picasso at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso –two of the foremost figures in 20th-century art– come together in this exhibition featuring paintings, sculptures, mobiles, and works on paper spanning the artists’ careers.

Calder-Picasso explores the artists’ prolific affinities as it reveals the radical innovation and enduring influence of their art. Conceived by the artists’ grandsons, the exhibition focuses on Calder’s and Picasso’s exploration of the void, or absence of space. Calder explored the absence of mass in his sculptures, and Picasso expressed contortions of time in his figurative work.

American artist Calder (1898–1976) and Spanish artist Picasso (1881–1973) both headed to Paris as young artists: Picasso in 1900 and Calder in 1926. Though their lives and work shared many parallels, the two men were not close, known to have met on only four occasions. Calder and Picasso were both engaged by the relationship of volume to space, and both pursued simplification to arrive at the essence of a subject.