When Georges Braque visited Pablo Picasso's studio in 1907, he
likened viewing Picasso’s latest work to drinking kerosene. This
incendiary approach was to set the contemporary art world
alight. In 1900, at around the time of his 19th birthday, Pablo
Picasso went to Paris to visit the Universal Exhibition and to
have his first experience of the art capital of the world. His
training had been in provincial Spanish art schools, but the
following year he was offered a large exhibition at the
prestigious Vollard Gallery and he became familiar with the
bohemian district of Montmartre and its gaudy pleasures. Yet
only a few years later he was challenging Matisse for the
position of leader of the French avant garde and was set on his
revolutionary path as a universal artist. Picasso in Paris,
1900-1907 follows Picasso’s discovery of art and life in the
French capital and examines his response to specific artists,
including Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Steinlen, Puvis de
Chavannes, Rodin and Cézanne. Marilyn McCully is