Manet's "Olympia," Titian's "Venus delighting herself with Love and Music" and Goya's "La Maja desnuda" are to hang with other illustrious nudes alongside Picasso's very own in an unprecedented exhibition next month on "painting learning from painting."
"Picasso and the Masters" opens on October 8 in three separate Paris museums with the bulk of the works shown at the Grand Palais, while Picasso-Delacroix and Picasso-Manet will be displayed at the Louvre and Orsay museums respectively.
Bringing together more than 200 works from public and private galleries worldwide, the aim of the show is to counterpoint Picasso's works with those of the great masters to highlight their influence on his art, organisers said Wednesday.
"There are permanent references to the masters in Picasso's works, he redefined them constantly," said Anne Valdassari, head of Paris' Picasso Museum and one of the curators of the show.
Divided into themes such as Colours, Tarot Cards, Still Lifes and Nudes, the show running until February 2 will feature works by El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Ribera, Titian, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Delacroix, Manet, Cezanne, to name but some.
"This is an exceptional and rare exhibition, I'd even be tempted to say an impossible challenge," said Thomas Grenon, who heads France's National Museums board.
"For many years it was a dream that remained on the drawing-board, it took up until now to resolve the difficulties of the project."
"We will have a concentration of masterpieces I believe is unprecedented," he added.
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