Publication details
Picasso’s Silent Grey Head and its Cathartic Role (not only) in the History of the National Gallery
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | RUSINKO, Marcela. Picasso’s Silent Grey Head and its Cathartic Role (not only) in the History of the National Gallery. In Skopalová, Eva; Madeline, Laurence; Rusinko, Marcela; Srp, Karel. Pablo Picasso, Grey Head (Dora Maar), 1941. Praha: Národní galerie v Praze, 2024, p. 62 - 99. Three Views of One Artwork. ISBN 978-80-7035-871-9. |
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| Description | There are probably few works of art that could mirror the labyrinthine pathways, dark corners and blind alleys of our contemporary history better than Pablo Picasso’s inconspicuous painting Grey Head, which has been involved in a common historical process within our territory since 1946, thus for almost eight decades. Displayed on the walls of various permanent exhibitions of the National Gallery in Prague, mostly as part of a “French” or foreign collection, over the last few decades it has been passed by thousands and thousands of visitors, most probably often going largely unnoticed, without them having a chance to become better acquainted with the dramatic story behind the painting. Without the work having the chance to tell its story to the passersby. The study thus traces the thrilling provenance history of this significant work, based as well on the newly published archive sources. First owner, Václav Dvořák, purchased Grey Head together with a set of works by Spanish artists who presented their canvas- es at an exhibition in 1946, first in Prague and then subsequently in Brno as part of The Art of Republican Spain exhibition. Dvořák evidently regarded the purchase as a good investment in an economically uncertain time. From the Dvořák’s collection, following the Communist takeover in 1948, the work came into the hands of the second most powerful man in Czechoslovakia during that time – Rudolf Barák. Owning a Picasso may initially have meant a good financial investment, but Picasso also represented considerable cultural and political capital. |
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