On the occasion of the exhibition Picasso Theatre, presented at the Tate Modern from October 2024 to March 2025, a textile work by Pablo Picasso highlights, with renewed clarity, the importance of tapestry within the history of modern art.
Exploring Picasso’s deep engagement with the performing arts—stage design, costumes, and his collaborations with the Ballets Russes—the exhibition sheds light on a vital aspect of his practice, where drawing becomes space, movement, and narrative. Within this context, the presence of a tapestry is particularly significant: it extends this theatrical dimension into a woven surface, both monumental and immersive.
Long regarded as a secondary or decorative art, tapestry is now undergoing a profound critical reassessment. Its inclusion in major institutional exhibitions dedicated to the leading artists of the 20th century reflects a decisive shift in perception. No longer seen as a mere translation of painting or drawing, tapestry is increasingly recognized as a medium in its own right—capable of conveying artistic intent with remarkable strength and depth.
In Picasso’s case, the translation into tapestry introduces a different temporality: that of weaving, of slow and meticulous craftsmanship, where line becomes thread and color is rendered through wool and silk. The result is a work of striking physical presence, engaging both the eye and the architectural space it inhabits.
This institutional recognition is part of a broader movement. In recent years, major exhibitions devoted to figures such as Calder, Le Corbusier, Delaunay, and Miró have increasingly placed tapestry at the center of their curatorial narratives. These often monumental works engage directly with architecture and respond to contemporary concerns of space, scale, and environment.
The inclusion of a Picasso tapestry at the Tate is therefore far from anecdotal—it marks a significant evolution in how this medium is understood and valued. It confirms what specialists and collectors have long recognized: tapestry is one of the great expressive fields of modern art.
For Galerie Hadjer, which has been dedicated for decades to the rediscovery and promotion of 20th-century tapestry, this recognition represents an important milestone. It reinforces a long-standing commitment to reposition these works at the very heart of modern art history—where they have always belonged.
