Picasso's 'Lo Studio' to be restored by Peggy Guggenheim Collection with BSI support

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice has launched a restoration project for Pablo Picasso's 1928 painting 'Lo Studio (L’Atelier)', supported by Swiss bank BSI of Lugano. The work, described by Robert Motherwell as 'one of the most austere and powerful works since the rise of Cubism', was reworked by Picasso himself with bright white paint. After being exhibited at MoMA during WWII and handled by dealer Kahnweiler, Picasso repurchased it six years later. Peggy Guggenheim acquired the painting in 1942 on advice from Max Ernst. A previous restoration in the 1960s involved relining and wax application, which has since dulled the white. Advanced technologies, including mobile lab MOLAB from CNR-ISTM in Perugia, began analysis in April to reveal the original version. This follows a similar restoration of a Jackson Pollock work a year earlier.