Searching for Harmony

Picasso's Classicism and the Modern Period

In modern art, the era between the First World War and the first years after the Second World War marked a phase of abandonment of the unfailing belief in progress. In the face of the devastating horrors of the two wars, artists were searching for a new direction for modern art under the paradigm of a 'return to order'. By artistically addressing Greek and Roman antiquity, artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Aristide Maillol and Henri Laurens developed their own particular classical design language. It is the focus of an exhibition with over 70 exhibits that illustrates the surprisingly productive relationship between important representatives of modern art and the aesthetics of antiquity. Inspired by texts from writers from antiquity such as Virgil or Ovid and the intensive study of antique sculptures, Picasso and his contemporaries, in their 'Search for Harmony', created a classical line style that is clearly evident in a wide range of works, in etchings, lithographies and artists' books for bibliophiles that are considered highlights of the graphic reproduction of modern art works.