A joint initiative between Ramallah’s International Art Academy Palestine and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, is trying to bring an original masterpiece by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso to Ramallah to be placed at the academy, for public viewing.The project, which is lead by the director of the Dutch museum Charles Esche, originally started as a request by the Ramallah’s academy to borrow Picasso’s ‘Buste de Femme’ (1943), but it has evolved in a close partnership between the two entities.
With the exhibition of the art work, the organizers seek to show the particular sensitivity of Picasso against the wars and injustices.
‘Without strictly only speaking in terms of occupation and directly referring to it, Picasso to Ramallah hopes to speak out hope beyond the frame of military occupation. It will however relate to it, but will never take the direct form of it,’ organizers said in a statement.
However, the art group declared the process of bringing the painting to Ramallah is involving a re-examination of international business agreements and the Oslo Accords, as well as questioning the Palestinian capabilities to provide security for the art work.
According to the organizers, ‘this all works to highlight the abnormality of the Palestinian reality and [leads us to] question the nature of the Palestinian entity.’
The project is also being documented on a film, directed by the Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi and under the title ‘Picasso Visits Palestine,’ that will be released in Eindhoven.
