Since the days of ancient Rome, Vallauris, in the south of France, has been known for its fine clay and pottery. It has attracted artists and craftsmen from France and abroad eager to work in its exceptionally pure clay.

In 1946, while attending an exhibition of pottery making in Vallauris, Picasso met Georges and Suzanne Ramié, proprietors of the Madoura ceramics workshop. After observing their potters at work, Picasso sat at a borrowed bench, and enthusiastically created his first three ceramic figures.

The infinite creative possibilities of ceramics that combined drawing, painting and sculpture so excited Picasso that he returned to the Madoura workshop the next summer with sketches for new pieces, the first of many unique ceramics he was to create over the next 27 years.

So passionate about his new medium of expression, Picasso put

aside the painter’s life in Paris for the potter’s life in Vallauris. Working briskly and instinctively, Picasso amazed the craftsmen around him who believed his bold treatment of materials and creative experiments were so unusual they thought them bound to fail in the firing. But to the surprise of all, Picasso’s daring experiments with shaping unbaked clay, applying unusual glazes, slips and metal oxides, produced brilliant results.

Soon he was deftly modeling graceful women, whimsical doves, owls, bulls, fauns and centaurs. He painted plates, platters and tiles with scenes of women, animals, bullfights and other favorite themes from his painting repertory.

Picasso’s ceramics were so unique and exciting, they sparked an enduring interest in the art of ceramics. The exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The Royal Academy of Art in London confirmed that the ceramic work of Picasso is a true art form, equal in imagination, originality and execution to his paintings, drawings and sculptures.