Cubism gets rediscovered in new Philadelphia Picasso exhibit

The Art Museum of Philadelphia has sorted through its basement and pulled out rarely seen works by Picasso. The new exhibit displays more than 200 works made by Pablo Picasso and his contemporaries in Paris.

The Museum uses its own collection to evoke the City of Light.

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Dateline: Paris, 1914. Picasso and his friend Georges Braque have invented this thing called Cubism. It was relatively unknown outside a small of group artists using the technique. So an exhibit was planned to introduce the public to Cubist abstractions. But Picasso and Braque are nowhere to be seen.

Their dealer said they will tear you apart. They will make fun of you – and that's what the press did.

In one room of the exhibit curator Michael Taylor re-created that historic salon with items the Museum already had in its collection. Almost nothing was borrowed for this show, which includes rare drawings by Picasso. Although the show was planned in part to save on the expense of borrowing outside works, Taylor says it allows him to show of the depth of the Museum's holdings.

Taylor: You've never seen this salon recreated. First time since 1912. I think the drama of that room is completely new. There's always see something new – you may have seen a Picasso show, but you've never seen this one.

The show presents Picasso in context of his contemporaries, and includes sculpture and surreal art. Taylor says there is nothing he needed to borrow to make the exhibit work.