Picasso’s Erotic Art Displayed in Paris

PARIS —  The first major retrospective of Pablo Picasso’s erotic art went on display last week, showing that nearly 30 years after his death, the celebrated Spanish artist still has the power to shock.

In “Picasso Erotique,” at the Jeu de Paume museum in central Paris through May 20, brothel scenes painted in the artist’s youth give way to more violent images of love, passion and rape in his middle age, followed by the eye-popping voyeurism of the elderly Picasso that leaves little to the imagination.

“This show could never be put on in the United States. The political correctness there acts as a new form of terrorism for the art world,” said Gerard Regnier, director of the Paris Picasso Museum.

The exhibition contains about 300 drawings, engravings, sculptures and paintings, many of which have been hidden away in drawers or private collections and are going on public display for the first time.

The show will travel to the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Montreal before returning to Europe for a three-month spell in Barcelona, Spain. The Jeu de Paume is open daily except Mondays. Admission is about $7. Tel. 011-33-1-4260-6969, https://www.jeudepaume.org.