The Picasso Exhibition in Zurich

Over the last 15 years, I have rarely had time to go to an exhibition of Western art.

A bit of a luxury, therefore, just before I retire, to visit the Picasso exhibition at the Zurich Kunsthaus a couple of days before it closes.

But very special to be able to see it, as the last exhibition of Picasso's work in Zurich was in 1932 (present at the exhibition this year in the form of black and white photos of the same works, though in a different order - which felt most strange).

My responses to the works themselves was very different from what I expected.

In no particular order, the works that struck me most were:

- Head of a Sleeping Woman (study of a nude with drapery) 1907 - which was captured more feeling than Woman's Head 1907 or Woman's Head 1908 (the latter might almost be regarded as studies for Head of a Sleeping Woman)

- Fountain by a Cloister (where the reflections on the water are radiantly rendered)

- Head of a Woman 1909 - this sculpture has the woman with a hairdo suggestive of a snake or dragon, though the fearful connotations were neutralised by the elegance of the face

- Suite des Saltimbanques - captures hopelessness and expectation equally

- Sketch for Salome 1908 - wonderfully radiates a dancer's energy

- Bathers with Beach Ball - one of the few "typical" Picassos that still impresses; actually, I found the whole of his Impressionist period uninteresting except historically; for example, the fragmented bodies felt curiously flat (though I suppose it better to dismember bodies on a canvas than in reality!)

- Abstraction (Head) 1930 - with its ambiguous shape that could be jaws, nose, mouth, head, ears...

- Jug and Bowl of Fruit 1931 for its formal and experimental dynamism

- The Drawing Lesson 1925

- Studio with Plaster Head. 1925 - a visual metaphor for worldly wisdom?

- The Bird Cage 1925 - the range of his experiments with tsimilar visual themes is fascinating

- Portrait of Paulo with a White Cap - which captures the child's innocence and diectness

Finally, seeing the originals versus the reproductions (for posters et al) is an interesting lesson in the exigencies of popular taste versus the sensitivity of an artist - the innocence and "littleness" of Paulo with a White Cap is lost and it communicates instead (because of being blown up in size) an abiguous surliness.