This August, three major loans have arrived at the National Gallery, offering visitors a journey through the art scenes of turn-of-the-century Barcelona, Berlin and Paris. Among them is Pablo Picasso‘s Portrait of Germaine (1902), currently the only Blue Period painting by the artist on display in a London museum. Painted while Picasso was living in Barcelona, the portrait depicts Germaine Pichot, a French artist’s model closely associated with the city’s artistic circles.
Joining Picasso in Room 45 is Marsden Hartley’s Painting No. 50 (1914–15), created during the American artist’s years in Berlin and influenced by his encounters with the avant-garde group Der Blaue Reiter. The work will hang alongside George Bellows’ Men of the Docks and arrives through the Terra Collection-in-Residence programme. Meanwhile, Claude Monet’s Waterlilies (1905), on loan from the Kenneth C. Griffin Collection alongside the Picasso, has gone on display in Room 46, complementing three other paintings from Monet’s celebrated series.
The loans can be viewed as part of the National Gallery’s permanent collection displays. Throughout August, visitors will have extra time to see them as part of National Gallery Summertime, with the museum remaining open until 7pm daily and 9pm on Fridays until 31 August.
