ADELAIDE.- The Art Gallery of South Australia presents Picasso: The Vollard Suite from 17 November 2018 to 3 February 2019. This National Gallery of Australia touring exhibition explores the inner musings of the most famous and influential artist of the twentieth century through 100 etchings produced over a 7-year period from 1930 to 1937.

The Vollard Suite is Pablo Picasso's most celebrated series of etchings. The suite takes its name from Modern art dealer and print publisher Ambroise Vollard, who gave Picasso his first Paris exhibition in 1901. Vollard commissioned Picasso to make the series of etchings in exchange for a selection of French Impressionist paintings from his private collection.

The Vollard Suite represents a critical point in Picasso's career and has been perceived by historians and critics alike as a summation of Picasso’s life’s work, providing insight into his ideas about art, life and mortality. Prevalent are the themes of history, creativity, ambition, desire, fear, male sexuality and obsession, as well as classically-derived subjects close to Picasso’s heart – his self-representation as the minotaur (the man-beast) and Pygmalion (the artist obsessed with his model).

On loan from the National Gallery of Australia, one of the few cultural institutions in the world to hold the complete suite of 100 etchings, Picasso: The Vollard Suite is on display at the Art Gallery of South Australia from Saturday 17 November to Sunday 3 February 2019.

The film Blood of a Poet (1930) by Picasso's friend and collaborator, Jean Cocteau, is being screened alongside the exhibition and for the aspiring ‘mini-Picasso’ Gallery 11 has been transformed into a free and accessible Drawing Room.

The themes reflect both the complexity of Picasso’s personal life and what was occurring in Europe at that period, namely, the build-up to the Second World War – Sally Foster, Curator, National Gallery of Australia

Admission is free.