The summer exhibition brings together Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) and Francis Bacon (1909–1992), two heroes of 20th-century art. The motto Vis-à-vis refers first of all to the confrontation of painter and sitter, an arrangement that Picasso and Bacon investigated in many paintings. For both artists, art history was also a constant vis-à-vis. The younger Francis Bacon took Picasso, next to the old masters, as a shining example. Despite Bacon’s much-quoted assertions to the effect that his encounter with Picasso’s works in the years around 1930 was the immediate spark behind his career as a painter, it would be totally wrong to describe the relationship between these two great 20th-century artists as one of influence. The exhibition rather traces the common interests of Bacon and Picasso and reveals their individual artistic solutions. The direct vis-à-vis of Picasso and Bacon, which never took place in the lifetimes of the two artists, becomes a reality in this exhibition through the juxtaposition of selected works.

The top-class works on display, over forty in number and produced mostly between the 1960s and the 1980s come, with the exception of a large Bacon triptych, from a European private collection who would prefer not to be known by name. Additionally, a selection of 74 etchings from Picasso’s last print series Suite 156 (1968–1972) will be presented in an extra gallery.