The Art of Picasso, Klee, and Matisse Arrives in Miami in Dialogue with Latin American Artists

Starting this Thursday, the exhibition 'Picasso-Klee-Matisse' brings together European masters from the collection of Berlin’s Museum Berggruen and Latin American artists—such as Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres-García, and Wifredo Lam—at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

The exhibition, which will remain open until February 28, 2027, features nearly 100 works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Cézanne, and Georges Braque, alongside pieces by Latin American creators from the PAMM’s own collection.

The collection was assembled by art dealer and collector Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007), who fled Nazi Germany. According to the museum, the exhibition explores modern art through narratives of migration and exile—themes that resonate deeply in Miami.

This South Florida city marks the tenth stop on a tour that began in 2022, when the Berlin museum closed for renovations. Since then, the collection has traveled through Asia, Europe, and Australia, as well as to Houston, Texas, explained Natalie Zimmer, a curator at the Museum Berggruen.

The galleries are organized around themes such as the still life, the portrait, interiors, the landscape, and the birth of Cubism. Notable works include 'The Yellow Sweater' (1939)—a Cubist portrait of Dora Maar, Picasso’s partner—and Klee’s 'Landscape in Blue' (1917).

"Our works had never been exhibited alongside those of Hispanic artists, which makes this show very, very special," said Zimmer. She believes visitors will be struck by the vivid colors of Matisse’s paper cut-outs, as well as the distinct ways in which Giacometti and Picasso each represented the female body. "What this exhibition truly offers its visitors is the chance to witness encounters between masters of modern art, and to see how each one approached the artistic challenges of the 20th century in a very different way," she summarized.
They must be seen in person
For the PAMM—an institution more focused on contemporary art—this is also a first: it had never before dedicated its largest galleries entirely to modern art, explained associate curator Maritza Lacayo, who organized the exhibition alongside Zimmer.

According to Lacayo, the exhibition spans nearly the entirety of Picasso’s body of work, from drawings made in his youth to paintings created shortly before his death.

Among her favorite pieces, Lacayo highlighted a 1904 portrait Picasso painted of his friend Jaume Sabartés—who would later become his secretary—which hangs at the end of the exhibition path.

"It is the only work in this exhibition from Picasso’s 'Blue Period'—his most famous phase—so, for me, that is incredibly special," she noted.

The curator encouraged the public to set aside two or three hours to take in the paintings, especially in an era when "everyone is on their phone and everything moves so fast."

"Seeing them on a screen or in a book is a completely different experience. You have to see them in person—to see the paint itself, to see the texture," she added.

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