President inaugurates Picasso exhibition

new delhi: president k r narayanan inaugurated the first ever exhibition of pablo picasso's works in india, picasso: metamorphoses 1900-1972, on friday at national museum in new delhi amid tight security. the exhibition is jointly organised by the national gallery of modern art and the embassy of france in india and has indiatimes.com, india's premier portal, as its exclusive online media partner.related story giving his inaugural address, narayanan said that france has a prominent position in india's cultural, economic and strategic european policy. "france is an important member in india's cultural interaction with europe," he said. the exhibition was first conceived when french president jacques chirac visited india in 1998. then prime minister i k gujral had asked chirac to exhibit picasso's works in india to increase cultural interaction between the two countries. the exhibition was given final shape during president narayanan's france visit in 2000. extolling the level of cultural interaction between the two countries, narayanan recalled a crystal figurine of ganesha that was gifted to him during his france visit. "a ganesha figurine made in france symbolises the extent of cultural interaction that exists between india and france. the picasso exhibition is a renewed interaction (between the two countries)," he said. sharing the dais with the president were french ambassador bernard de montferrand, tourism and culture minister jagmohan, the secretary of his ministry k n srivastava, director of the national gallery of modern art rajiv lochan and director of national museum r d chaudhury. tracing the history of indo-french interaction, jagmohan talked about maharaja ranjit singh's relation with the french generals. "quite a few of his generals were french. and the first technology transfer between the two countries also took place during his regime," he said. "romain rolland, french nobel laureate, put indian spiritual on the world map," he said. speaking in the background of friday's terrorist attack on parliament, he termed indo-french cultural exchange as "globalisation of confidence", a term used earlier by the french ambassador. he called upon the indians and the french to create a new civilisation of tolerance out of two great civilisations, which would be "based on the finer sensibilities of life rather the brutalities of fundamentalism and fanaticism". he wished that some great indian artist should put the "horrors of yesterday" on the canvass to put the brutalities of intolerance on the world map. the exhibition shows 122 works of picasso from different french collections that represent different phases of artistic life. it starts with the photographs taken by him. it also shows his photographs and of people connected with his life. the paintings and copies of engravings open with the works from the blue period (1901-04) during which the central theme of his creative impulse was angst. the period was named so because, for picasso, the blue represented a cold colour, the colour of night and melancholy. this phase was marked by the suicide of his friend carlos casagemas. picasso remarked, " it was while thinking of casagemas that i started painting in blue." the next period depicted in the exhibition is the rose period (1904-1906). the period sees picasso turning his attention from depiction of beggars to beautiful bodies of young men. the other periods of depicted are cubist, surrealist and the war years. these periods also saw picasso inspiring literary contemporaries with his styles. he himself dabbled in surrealist poetry, some examples of which are being displayed in the exhibition. the minotaur series, in which picasso depicts himself interacting with mythology, is another attraction of the exhibition. the exhibition is open till january 31, 2001, before it is taken to mumbai.