Original lithographic poster printed by Atelier Mourlot, Paris.

This poster was produced to mark the donation of 57 drawings by Picasso to a public institution, reflecting the artist’s longstanding relationship with museums and cultural legacy. The reproduced image foregrounds drawing as a primary vehicle of thought in Picasso’s practice — direct, exploratory, and unmediated — rather than as a preparatory step toward painting.

By the early 1970s, Picasso was increasingly conscious of how his work would be encountered historically. Posters such as this operate not only as exhibition announcements but as documents of artistic self-curation, reinforcing drawing’s central role in his oeuvre and asserting its equal status within the public record of modern art.

Culturally, this donation reinforced the role of public collections in shaping the perception of an artist’s legacy.