Theatre Picasso 17 September 2025 - 12 April 2026

This autumn, Tate Modern invites visitors to enter Theatre Picasso, a major exhibition marking the centenary of Picasso’s painting The Three Dancers 1925. The exhibition will bring together around 50 works by one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, exploring how he imbued his work with a sense of theatricality. Coinciding with Tate Modern’s 25th anniversary year, Theatre Picasso will continue the gallery’s history of presenting foundational figures from art history in fresh ways.

Celebrated contemporary artist Wu Tsang and writer and curator Enrique Fuenteblanca will stage Picasso’s art, inspired by his approach to performance. The Three Dancers will be at the heart of the exhibition, shown alongside Tate’s entire collection of works by Picasso, featuring famous paintings as Weeping Woman 1937 and Nude Woman in a Red Armchair 1932. The exhibition will also showcase prints, drawings, sculptures, textile works and collages, interwoven with key loans from leading Picasso museums in France. Tsang and Fuenteblanca will invite contemporary choreographers and dancers to respond to Theatre Picasso in an accompanying programme.

Picasso was fascinated by performers and their boundless capacity for transformation, and he approached painting as a dramatic act in itself. Central to this was the construction of his own public persona or brand – Picasso ‘the artist’ – a mythologised version of Picasso which portrayed him as both a celebrated creative genius and an outsider. This figure accompanied Picasso throughout his life and continues to shape how we imagine the role of the artist today.

In Picasso’s own work, this persona was often expressed through fantastical and striking imagery, such as in the wool and silk tapestry Minotaur 1935, which will be displayed in the UK for the first time, on loan from Musée Picasso, Antibes. Henri-George Clouzot's 1959 film The Mystery of Picasso will also feature in the exhibition, following Picasso in his studio as he creates works in real-time, a study of his vigorous creative process in which we see him throw his body into the act of painting.

Picasso not only used theatricality as a theme but also looked consistently towards popular entertainers and those pushed to the margins for inspiration, choosing to depict artists working in the circus world, bullfighters and flamenco dancers as well as artists models. Such figures will appear throughout the exhibition in works such as Girl in a Chemise c.1905, Horse with a Youth in Blue 1905-6 and Bullfight Scene 1960 from Tate’s collection, alongside Acrobat 1930 lent by Musée national Picasso-Paris. Tsang and Fuenteblanca will reflect on the status of these figures as they are represented in the work of Picasso, and within the context of the art museum. The exhibition will recognise both the continued relevance of Picasso and the fascinating contradictions that run throughout his life and work.