Nigel Ip

Marking the centenary of The Three Dancers (1925), Theatre Picasso at Tate Modern explores Picasso’s performative approach to life and art.

‘Staged’ by artist Wu Tsang and curator Enrique Fuenteblanca, the exhibition brings together over 50 works by Picasso, consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, including a few key loans from the Musée Picasso in Paris, the National Gallery, and a tapestry from the Musée Picasso in Antibes. The rest derives from Tate’s 43-piece Picasso collection, which is now entirely on public view for the first time, except one.

While the exhibition celebrates the people and playful characters in Picasso’s art, it also highlights the performativity of museums, their collections, and exhibition design. In fact, even the lighting changes like spotlights in a theatre, while the soundtrack accompanying the 1956 documentary Le mystère Picasso permeates the room.

One begins backstage in the museum stores, where precious prints and drawings are kept, and where one discovers the very first Picasso paintings to enter the Tate collection. Eventually, while wandering through the exhibition, we find ourselves unwittingly onstage in full view of an audience on the other side of the room.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players

William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II Scene VII Line 139-40

This small, but fun exhibition is an unusual approach to exhibiting Picasso. While refreshing and very pleasant to walk through, the £15 admission cost is a little steep. Still, I would happily recommend it for the theatrics.

Theatre Picasso (17 September 2025 – 12 April 2026) is at Tate Modern, London, https://www.tate.org.uk/