'Picasso 1932' at Tate Modern

'Picasso 1932' is the current blockbuster exhibition at Tate Modern, a big collections of paintings and other works from the single year of 1932 - what a prolific chap that Picasso was to complete so many works in one year and we only see a selection. It's an impressive achievement for the Tate to get so many paintings on loan for the exhibition. A little touch that I really liked was including the day and date the painting was created on the label - that sort of helped to emphasise that all these works were completed in a single year.

Apparently 1932 was a crisis year for Picasso with the advent of his first major retrospective exhibition, critics questioning his creative relevance and his marriage falling apart while he discovers a new muse rather than his wife. So, a year of challenge and discovery, and that's something i really liked about the exhibition - it exposes us to a wide range of styles and approaches to creativity that Picasso was experimenting with. Not all are equally successful but that's what you would expect and it's great to have an opportunity to see such a wide range of works.

The exhibition is laid out chronologically so we travel through 1932 with Picasso, from January to December, as his moods change and shift. His experiments change and develop and it's fascinating walking through the year with him.

There are all sorts of works in this exhibition - some sculptures, paintings, drawings, all completed in 1932. I quite liked some of the monochrome line paintings but there were some works there I wouldn't have guessed were by Picasso if I hadn't been told. There were a few small landscapes and paintings of his house at Boisgeloup that were delightful in their simplicity and restraint. I stood there grinning at them and wondering how I'd never seen any paintings like this by Picasso before. They were lovely.

As I walked through the year I started noticing that some themes and compositions were repeated, but not in the same way, almost like he was exploring his own artistic processes. One of these were paintings titled 'The Rescue'.  One of the quotes from Picasso that was written up on the wall was, "You start a painting and it becomes something altogether different. It's strange how little the artist's will matters." That's a bit like Paul Klee's 'taking a line for a walk' approach. The painting takes over and the artist must follow it where it leads.

It's a really enjoyable exhibition and I'll certainly go back (and pick a time when it's not so crowded - I really ought to know by now). It's a really good concept for an exhibition but there aren't that many artists of similar stature who produced sufficient works to focus on a single year. It certainly works for Picasso.