This is your sneak peek at Vancouver's Imagine Picasso exhibition (PHOTOS)

Oct 26 2021, 11:17 pm

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Imagine Picasso, a stunning digital art exhibition coming to Vancouver Convention Centre, opens this week.

The experience was created by Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron in collaboration with art historian Androula Michael and one of the leading figures of the new French architecture movement, Rudy Ricciotti.

Imagine Picasso features over 200 of the artist’s paintings, including work from his Blue and Rose periods, as well as his work in cubism and surrealism. Organizers add that this is the first time such a large number of Picasso’s pieces will be on display together.

Vancouver is the second Canadian city to play host to the event, following a successful run in Quebec. Mauger tells Daily Hive that the exhibition took two years to plan and bring to life, including negotiating and receiving licensing from the Picasso Estate.

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

Picasso’s paintings and sculptures are projected on walls inside the venue. The original works are expanded, fragmented, and projected into different shapes. One unique feature of Imagine Picasso is the use of origami-like structures throughout the gallery, which Mauger says helps create new perspectives.

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

“Picasso was a painter, but he was also a sculptor,” she tells Daily Hive in an interview. “And I thought it was interesting in an immersive way to sculpt the picture of the paintings. And it was creating new perspectives on his art and I think this is very important when you want to create a dialogue between the paintings.”

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

When it comes to the differences between Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh, Mauger says that Picasso’s work spans a remarkable number of years and that there were tens of thousands of pieces to choose from.

“I think the most important difference is that Picasso painted over 80 years, which is a lot,” she explains. “With Picasso, we are in front of 30,000 paintings and we had to choose a bit more than 200 of the most important ones.”

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

“For Van Gogh, it was really different because Van Gogh is a myth, you know? I think Picasso’s art is the genius of the 20th century but most people know his name — not his paintings. What was really important for me was to show those paintings between the blue paintings, the pink paintings, cubism, and surrealism.”

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

Imagine Picasso will have a limited stay in Vancouver and will open to the public on Wednesday, October 27. Tickets will start at $34.99 (including service charges and fees).

Organizers say that the event is a contactless experience and will be in full accordance with current health protocols in BC, which means limited capacity and timed entries.

imagine picasso

Daily Hive

Imagine Picasso

Where: Vancouver Convention Centre East, Exhibition Hall C (near the sails at Canada Place) – 999 Canada Place, Vancouver

When: Starting Wednesday, October 26 for a limited time

Tickets: Available online starting at $34.99 (including service charges and fees)

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