Picasso Museum in Barcelona – The First Communion
Today we talk to you about Barcelona at the Picasso Museum, a place with one of the largest collections of works by the Spanish artist, and one of the most famous and visited museums in the city.
The museum is housed in five adjoining medieval buildings in the La Ribera district. The museum’s permanent collection consists of 4,249 works, most of which date back to the artist’s youth, which he spent in Barcelona. Picasso moved to the city in 1894 when his father, an art teacher, found work at the local school.
Among the most representative works on display is one of his earliest masterpieces, ‘The First Communion’ from 1896.
The First Communion is Pablo Picasso’s first large-scale work on public display. It is an oil on canvas with references to Spanish Catholic culture and depicts his sister Lola accompanied by her parents and kneeling near the altar of a church during the reception of the sacrament of her first communion.
The girl wears a white dress, which contrasts with the dark hues of the church and the bystanders. She thus takes centre stage, attracting the gaze of her parents and the altar boy beside the altar.
It is a work where the academic realism of the early Picasso. He was 15 years old at the time the painting was executed, is still evident. The painting, painted in the winter of 1895-96, was first exhibited in Barcelona as part of the municipal exhibition in April and May and is still in the Picasso Museum.
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