More Than 80 Picasso Portraits in London

1/3 Woman in a Hat (Olga) by Pablo Picasso, 1935; Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art moderne Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle. Legs de M. Georges Salles en 1967 (n° inv. :AM 4393 P) © Succession Picasso/DACS London, 2016.

Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face, or what's behind it?
As with all he did, Pablo Picasso approached the art of portraiture with a perspective entirely his own. This year, London’s National Portrait Gallery is bringing together more than 80 portraits by Picasso with focus on those he knew and loved – from friend and fellow modernist Jean Cocteau and composer Igor Stravinsky to his wife, Olga Picasso (including the famous Woman in a Hat (Olga)).

A journey from the realist paintings of his youth to periods of cubism, surrealism and neoclassisism, the exhibition will be first major showing of Picasso’s portraiture in 20 years. Picasso Portraits will be on display at NPG from October 6, 2016 to February 5, 2017.