The Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta is currently hosting a remarkable exhibition that confronts the work of two major Spanish artists of the 20th century: Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró.

Entitled Picasso and Miró: The Flesh and The Spirit, the exhibition was brought to Malta by Fundación Mapfre in collaboration with Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti and the Office of the President of Malta, and is part of Picasso-Méditerranée, an initiative by the Musée National Picasso in Paris unfolding between spring 2017 and spring 2019.

For this major international project, over 60 cultural institutions have collaborated on a programme exploring the work of Picasso on the Mediterranean.

Picasso and Miró: The Flesh and The Spirit consists of 100 etchings from the complete Suite Vollard collection that belongs to Fundación Mapfre and 44 paintings of Miró belonging to the Espacio Miró exhibition venue in Madrid, Spain.

“This project intends to display something more than a show of two of the most significant creators of the 20th century who really shook up traditional art,” said curator Pablo Jiménez Burillo, who also directs the Culture Department at Fundación Mapfre.

“While Picasso unties the dark forces of the male obsessions and delights in female beauty, Miró instructs us in pure colours and free gestures, which represent the generosity of nature and the key to attaining happiness.”

One of the most dominant and influential artists of the first half of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso pioneered Cubism and made major contributions to symbolism and surrealism. While seeing himself as primarily a painter, the Malaga-born artist was also influential through his sculpture, ceramics and printmaking.

Born in Barcelona in 1893, Joan Miró was greatly influenced by the landscapes of Mont-roig, Majorca, New York, Japan and Paris, where he famously engaged with surrealist poets in the 1920s. The cultural vibrancy of the French capital formed a counterpoint with his attachment to the natural landscape, fuelling conflicting forces that in turn formed the artist’s unique personal language.

Picasso and Miró: The Flesh and The Spirit is open at the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta until June 30. Opening hours are Monday to Sunday from 10am until 4:30pm, with the last entry at 4pm.

Picasso and Miró: The Flesh and The Spirit is open at the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta until June 30.