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2023 will be the ‘Year of Picasso’, an initiative marking the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, involving 38 key art institutions across Europe and the United States. The Spanish artist lived and worked in the Catalan capital in his early years, and it will be a pivotal exhibition space as the Blue period was central to Barcelona. The picturesque hilltop village of Horta de Sant Joan is set amongst picturesque almond and olive groves and the surrounding landscapes, which played an influential role in the making of Picasso, the artist.

Picasso regularly donated his works to the museum, including the ‘Meninas’ series, the artist’s homage to 17th-century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez.

Barcelona’s Picasso Museum boasts some unique qualities that earn it a place of honour in the Picassian world, as it is the only museum the artist himself helped set up. Picasso held his first solo exhibition here and met the local bohemia and avant-garde artists of that time, who would influence life and work.

Gósol’s tiny Centre Picasso documents the artist’s stay in the village and displays reproductions of some of the most significant works he completed during his time here. It is perfect for discovering more about the Cubism genius and admiring the works from his formative years: engravings, ceramics and pieces such as the ‘Science and Charity’ painting, which was exhibited at the Fine Arts National Exhibition in 1897.

The art world has mobilised to stage an unprecedented 50 exhibitions marking 50 years since Picasso’s death. The artist said “Tot el que sé, lo he après a Horta”, “All what I know, I learnt it in Horta”. Nowadays, The Picasso Museum in Barcelona houses the most important collections in the world from the artist’s formative periods”, said Raül Guerra, Asia-Pacific Regional Director, Catalan Tourist Board.

50 years since Picasso’s death to be marked with a year of exhibitions – The Picasso Celebration 1973 – 2023 Horta is one of the gateways to the Els Ports Natural Park, where you can visit the rock refuge where the artist and his best friend spent a transformative summer in 1898. A friend from art school was a Horta native, and they camped over a summer in the nearby hills converting a natural rock refuge and spending their days living wild and painting. Museu Picasso Barcelona http://www.museupicasso.bcn.cat/en/

Following Picasso’s footsteps and not far from the museum, still in Barcelona’s old quarter, is the café Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats), which has not changed much from how it looked in the early 20th century.

Local spots in Horta connected to the painter are marked with plaques making it easier to trace his footsteps.

Spain will host several Picasso exhibitions in 2023 at Madrid’s three major museums, Museo del Prado, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and the Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza. It will highlight the significant role that Picasso played in developing modern art from the 20th century and the legacy he left behind.

The Picasso Celebration aims to show off all the facets of Picasso – the most famous and emblematic modern artist.

Picasso returned to Horta 10 years later, in 1909, with friends and his lover and muse, Fernande Olivier. At the foot of the Pyrenees, the charming mountain village of Gósol, with traditionally built stone houses and dramatic alpine scenery, is a rural escape closely connected to Picasso. But it was Barcelona where all began: he lived, studied, worked and took his first steps as an artist in that city.

“Pablo Picasso, one of the world’s most celebrated painters, spent most of his adult life in France”. Picasso moved into town, where he stayed for eight months.

But in Catalonia, Picasso evolved from a promising, talented teenager into a ground-breaking artistic genius.

Travel on about 200kms from Barcelona to the village of Horta de Sant Joan (Tarragona), which Picasso visited twice, immortalising its landscapes. A year of exhibitions, conferences and other events are planned at museums in Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga and Paris, as well as cities worldwide.

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona has over 4200 of his works.

Horta isn’t the only Catalan village where you can trace Picasso’s life. These two museums will also celebrate their 20th and 60th anniversary in 2023. Picasso spent three months here, and it is thought that this time drove Picasso’s style further into primitivism and on the path to cubism.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the two Picasso museums in Malaga and Barcelona will also host exhibitions. It was in 1895 that Picasso’s family moved to Barcelona, where he studied for two years at the La Llotja Fine Arts School. Picasso periodically returned to Barcelona until 1937; after that, he never returned to Spain again because of his fierce opposition to the nationalist regime of dictator Francisco Franco.

The local Picasso Center doesn’t hold any original paintings, but it has reproductions of Picasso’s works inspired by Horta. It was considered the epicentre of Barcelona’s artistic life and one of Picasso’s favourite cafes. It is a tribute to the powerful connection to Barcelona that the Malaga-born Cubist kept throughout his life. He didn’t return to his art studies after Horta but joined Barcelona’s bohemian scene.

Picasso obsessively painted the nearby Santa Barbara Mountain in an apparent homage to Paul Cezanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire series. In 1900 he held his first individual exhibition in the city.

The Museu Picasso in Barcelona will be the focus of the celebration. The program has been designed to trace a historiographical approach to Picasso’s work. You can visit Gósol on a day trip from Barcelona, about 90 minute drive. The only way to reach Gósol in 1906, when Picasso travelled there in the company of Fernande Olivier, was by mule. He permanently settled in France until he died in 1973.