About the Exhibit

Texas A&M University-San Antonio is proud to announce that a once in a lifetime experience is coming to the city’s South Side: with a unique art exhibit titled “Picasso, Friends and Contemporaries.” The education-focused exhibit will be housed at the University’s Main Campus from March 17-May 20 and will feature artwork by famed artist Pablo Picasso, his friends, teachers and contemporaries. The exhibit will focus on introducing, educating and making accessible great works of art to the entire community and will be free of charge and open to the public.

Of the 97 works in the exhibit, approximately half of the pieces have never been viewed outside of the country. Three pieces have never before been on exhibit. Picasso’s work is shown alongside a selection of pieces by contemporary master artists such as Salvador Dali, Georges Braque and more. The exhibit includes a variety of media beyond oil on canvas, including engravings, lithographs, drawings, ceramics and sculptures in stone, bronze and gold.

While Picasso may be a household name, this exhibit also introduces one that many of us will recognize in a disguised form as the name of the man for whom Galveston, Texas was named: that of General Bernardo de Galvez, a distinguished solider of New Spain who was born in Picasso’s hometown of Malaga two centuries earlier. During his rise from junior officer to governor of Louisiana, Galvez played a critical role in George Washington’s fight to win the Revolutionary War. In 1779, Galvez ordered the transport of 10,000 head of cattle from the missions of San Antonio to his own headquarters fighting the British. He was commended by the Continental Congress and was thanked by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry for his service to the United States.

Visitors to Texas A&M-San Antonio will walk on the same ground those cattle grazed on before going on to feed soldiers in the American Revolution, and they will be able to learn about Texas’s role as a Spanish colony from a special history exhibit featured on the first floor of the Main Campus Building. The exhibit will remind school children that while Texas was under Mexican rule for 15 years, it was a colony of the Spanish empire for over 130, and played a role in world events.

To extend the educational aspect of the exhibit even further, Adult Community Education Programs at area school districts will offer courses related to Picasso and his art which will culminate with views of the exhibition.

“Picasso, Amigos y Contemporaneos” offers opportunities for all.