World-class art arrives: Picasso coming to Aalborg

This summer, Aalborg will be the place to encounter none other than Pablo Picasso.

From May 9 to September 6, 2026, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg will host the exhibition Late Picasso, featuring over

60 works from the 1960s and early 1970s.

It is the most comprehensive Nordic exhibition of Picasso’s late works in 40 years.

Truly unique

During this period, Picasso lived in Mougins in southern France, isolating himself more than before and spending nearly all his time in the studio. The result was a massive output of paintings, drawings, and graphic works that are far from calm autumn pieces.

The brushstrokes are quick, often nonchalant, compositions can appear unfinished, and the energy is raw and direct.

“Picasso’s late works appear, in many ways, wilder and bolder than anything he created before,” says Caroline Nymark Zachariassen, chief curator at Kunsten.

“Many works seem almost unfinished, reflecting the speed in which they were created—and his enormous creative drive.

Even 50 years later, these pieces speak to us with a vitality and intensity that is hard not to be captivated by.”

While much of the art scene in the 1960s moved toward conceptualism, Picasso remained focused on the figure and the human form.

In Late Picasso, viewers will encounter self-portraits, musketeers, loving couples, and models imbued with both sensual intensity and existential weight.

Here, old age, desire, mortality, and love are filtered through an artist aware of approaching the end of his life but unwilling to slow down.

“The human—or human experience—is always central in Picasso’s work,” says Zachariassen.

“The figure becomes a path to experimentation and to grappling with big questions.

In some works, you can almost sense him confronting his own mortality.”

A collaboration between multiple museums

Even though Picasso is one of the most studied names in art history, his late works have long been overshadowed by his early breakthroughs.

For decades, they were criticized as too raw or unfinished, but since the 1980s, they have been reevaluated and are now seen as groundbreaking and highly influential for many contemporary painters.

“Picasso reminds us that we have a lifetime to renew our view of the world and ourselves,” says Lasse Andersson, director of Kunsten.

“Seen through a contemporary lens, his late works appear fresh, fearless, and full of audacious energy. It is creativity in full throttle.”

Late Picasso was created in collaboration with Posten Moderne in Trondheim, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, and several other museums and private lenders.

The exhibition at Kunsten is curated by Caroline Nymark Zachariassen.

Late Picasso can be experienced at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg from May 9 to September 6, 2026.