Sum of the Arts: Picasso Edition

Pablo Picasso, “Bull” (1958, Cannes), plywood, tree branch, nails, and screws, 46 1/8 x 56 3/4 x 4 1/8 inches (courtesy the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Jacqueline Picasso, © 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Sum of the Arts is a periodic tabulation of numbers floating around the art world and beyond. In a special edition inspired by the opening of Picasso Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, we tally some stats for the Spanish artist.

• Number of sculptures in MoMA’s Picasso Sculpture exhibition titled “Head of a Woman” (as counted by Hyperallergic News Editor Ben Sutton) = 11
• Number of ‘colors’ in “Guernica” = 3 (black, grey, and white)
• Years of probation given to art dealer Tony Shafrazi for tagging “Guernica” at MoMA in 1974 with the words “KILL LIES ALL” in red spray paint = 5
• Number of museums exclusively dedicated to Picasso = 7
• Hours it took to remove Picasso’s 19-foot-by-20-foot “Le Tricorne” tapestry from Manhattan’s Four Seasons, where it was hanging for 55 years = 12 (it’s now on view at the New-York Historical Society)
• Number of stripes on Picasso’s signature Breton shirt = 21
• Years after his death when Picasso’s France burial site was finally opened to the public = 35
• Number of characters in Picasso’s full name = 122 (Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso)
• Number of Picassos seized in 2010 from Pierre Le Guennec, Picasso’s former electrician = 271
• Estimated number of Picasso artworks that have been stolen = 1,147
• Number of Picasso artworks catalogued in his online catalogue raisonné = 25,629
• Reward in French francs (no longer in circulation) offered for a missing “Mona Lisa” in 1911, which Picasso was suspected of stealing = 50,000 (he was later cleared)