Exposition Picasso 1970–1972 Set

This set of two publications was published to accompany Exposition Picasso 1970–1972, an expansive exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s final body of works at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France, that opened on May 23, 1973, a month following the artist’s death. Prepared by Yvonne and Christian Zervos, the exhibition included over two hundred paintings and drawings chosen by Picasso that were installed in the nave of the historic Chapel of Clement VI.

The set includes a softcover book documenting the exhibition with 181 black-and-white and 20 color illustrations as well as a folder of loose large-format color photographs of the installed exhibition, which situated Picasso’s boldly colored and daringly composed late paintings on the walls of the enormous Gothic building. Both publications include an essay by René Char, an influential French poet who served in the Resistance during World War II and was close to Picasso.