Picasso Portrait in Palestinian Territory

The West Bank city of Ramallah welcomed a famous guest over the weekend. For the first time, an original masterpiece painted by Pablo Picasso is on display in the Palestinian territory.

The show is called “Picasso in Palestine.” It’s really just a single painting, a cubist portrait from 1943 called “Buste de Femme.” But Charles Esche, director of the Dutch museum that owns the painting, reports that the show has created lot of buzz.

“I was in a taxi recently and I said, ‘can I go to the academy?’” Esche said. “And they said, ‘oh, we don’t know where the academy is, in Ramallah.’ And I said, ‘Picasso, Picasso.’ And he said, ‘Oh, Picasso. I know that, no problem.’”

But getting the painting here took two years to pull off.

There were questions about insurance for a seven million dollar painting. And, as with any important art exhibit, there was security to worry about. Of particular concern was moving the Picasso down the stretch of road between the Israeli checkpoint outside of Ramallah, and the part of the city patrolled by Palestinian security forces. It’s a security no-man’s land, said Khaled Hourani, director of the International Art Academy in Ramallah. But they found a solution.

“The only way to protect the work was inviting the media from all over with their cameras, so instead of having guns or Kalashnikov, we had cameras to protect the work.” Hourani said. “It worked. It’s here now, as you can see.”

A young Palestinian artist on hand, Osama Nazal said there is great symbolism in having a work by Picasso in the West Bank.

“There are many countries in the world that have been established states for many years that have failed to Bring Picasso into their country,” he said. “We already have Picasso in our state.”

The historical record is not clear on what Pablo Picasso thought about the Arab-Israeli conflict specifically. But art professor Linda Morris of Norwich University, who helped with this project, said the artist would have approved.

“This situation, and trying to humanize it through art, is exactly what Picasso stood for,” Morris said. “That’s why I feel certain that he would be here.”