Picasso Comes to Palestine

A Picasso comes to the PalestiniansBy Kareem Khadder, CNN


June 28, 2011 4:43 a.m. EDT


Security guards keep close to the "Buste De Femme" by Pablo Picasso. It's on loan from a museum in the Netherlands.STORY HIGHLIGHTS


"Buste De Femme" was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1943; it's housed in the Netherlands


It's being displayed for one month in the West Bank city of Ramallah


Picasso used his art to express his feelings about the Spanish Civil War


Art specialist says the work has much to say about today's divide in the Middle East


Ramallah, West Bank (CNN) -- In a small showroom in the West Bank city of Ramallah, two Palestinian security guards carefully watch over a masterpiece by one of the most famous artists in modern history.






The "Buste De Femme," painted by Pablo Picasso in 1943, is estimated to be worth $7 million. It was borrowed from the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, by the International Academy of Art Palestine for a monthlong display in the West Bank.






Khaled Horani, art director of the academy, says the project took two years of negotiations, preparations and overcoming some political obstacles.






"This is the first time in history where a masterpiece of Picasso comes to Palestine in the occupied territories and also the first time we are going to show a masterpiece to the Palestinians," Horani told CNN.






While Horani acknowledges that just some 20 kilometers (about 12.4 miles) away, there are many contemporary masterpieces in Jerusalem museums. He is quick to point out the limitations for art lovers who live in the West Bank.






"It's not accessible for Palestinians from the West Bank to go there and see the artwork," making reference to Israeli security restrictions. "This raises the questions around the political situation and art in general and its accessibility," Horani said.






Painted just a few years after the Spanish Civil War, the "Buste De Femme" one of Picasso famous paintings. The Spanish artist wanted to express his feelings about the bloody war that had torn apart his homeland.






The painting took a 24-hour journey from the Netherlands to the West BankProfessor Lynda Morris of Norwich University College of the Arts in England and a specialist on Picasso, compared it with the political situation in the West Bank.






She said Picasso strived to understand both sides of the Spanish Civil War, and that holds lessons for today. "... Probably in the West, we know much more of the Israeli side more than the Palestinian side, and the importance to begin to address that balance," Morris told CNN.






Twenty feet away in an adjacent room of the academy, the special packing crate for the painting has been put on exhibit as well with the shipping label "From Eindhoven to Palestine" displayed prominently.






"This is the smallest museum and this box will be part of the exhibition," Horani told CNN in an advance preview of the painting.






He said the painting's 24-hour journey from the Netherlands to the West Bank was documented as it made its way to Tel Aviv. It was then escorted by an Israeli security firm to Qalandia checkpoint and then on to Ramallah.






The painting exhibition, which officially opened its doors to the public on Friday, was attended by Palestinians and international art lovers.






Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad went to the opening. He said the painting would go back to the Netherlands taking with it a little bit of the region with it.






"Destination Palestine, by itself, is of great significance to us," Fayyad said. "It is really moving to see this great work of Picasso is here and this portrait goes back to Eindhoven and part of Palestine will be with it," Fayyad told CNN after touring the exhibition.






"This is really a big thing.






--Christine Hadid, Palestinian architect RELATED TOPICS


Pablo Picasso


Painting


Palestine


Middle East


Ramallah


Art connoisseur Ola Abu Gharbieh said seeing the work in the West Bank made her proud.






"Palestinians are artistic. They are fond of art, and they had the chance and opportunity to bring such a universal and international work of art here in Palestine, and I wish to have similar experiences in the future."






Christine Hadid, a Palestinian architect and a self-avowed art lover, said the exhibit helped break through common stereotypes people hold about Palestinian society.






"This is really a big thing. We can show the world we can do something like this. Our life is not only focused on war and on all the bad things that happen to us while we are living in closure" Hadid said.






"This breaks all closures to Ramallah and Palestine. Maybe next time we will have a masterpiece by another artist -- Van Gogh or someone else. It's a first step for bigger events hopefully."

Yahoo Qustions and Answers

What Exactly Is The Israelie-Palestinian Conflict About?


I'm considered to be a student of history and I know for a fact that the land of Israel which is really just the land of Judea belongs to the Hebrew people (the Jews), historically speaking. As a Christian who thanks the early followers of Y'Shua the Messiah for preaching the gospel to other nations, who were Jewish, I'm sort of confused on who occupies Israel at the moment since 1948. Is the majority of Israel occupied by a Jewish sect or Jewish people in general? Aren't the Palestinians technically Arabs? Wouldn't their ancestry have come from the Arabic Peninsula? Last time I checked Judea/Israel isn't part of this peninsula which brings in another question, didn't the Muslims in the middle ages take this land by force? Everyone WITH intelligence knows Islam was always a geopolitical movement. What's with the Jewish hate amongst those radical Muslims? Didn't those protesters get influenced by a terrorist organization named HAMAS?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker


It seems you've got your information mixed up. The Palestinians are the descendants of the Canaanites and the Israelites (who were essentially a sub-branch of the Canaanites). The Canaanites predate Judaism by thousands of years (as state in your bible) itself. However, in the last 2000 years many other civilizations have conquered Palestine and some of them settled there, such as the Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arab Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans.

Those people have changed their religion over time. Judaism was widely spread in Palestine early on. However, during Byzantine times most residents of Palestine converted to Christianity. During Arab Muslim rule, most converted to Islam. However significant Jewish and Christian minorities remained. This mixture of people made up the Palestinians of today. Thus most of the Jews that you refer to who lived in Palestine 2000 years ago have converted to Christianity and Islam and are part of the Palestinian people today.

Most of the Jews occupying Palestine today are not native to the land, but in reality immigrants from all over the world. nearly half come from European origin who are totally foreign to the whole region and not just Palestine.


Asker's Rating: Asker's Comment: Thank you for your information. In a way President Obama made a good decision about the borders and how the Jews who live there today should sort of give up the land. I guess its all about compromise to bring peace though.


It boils down to two things. 1) Hamas doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist as a nation and will all die before they change their beliefs. 2) The Palestinians refuse to give up The Dome of The Rock which is built upon the past site of the Jewish Temple and where they made sacrifices to God. Those two simple, yet positively impossible to change facts, are the reasons that the world will end starting in Jerusalem.


People called Arabs are really people who have Arab as their mother tongue. The people called Palestinians are descendants of various groups of people that have at some time or another settled in the area. That is, the Palestinians of course also have some Jewish ancestors. Of course, they also have ancestors from the Arab peninsula, probably also some European Christian crusaders from the middle ages. By the way, not all Palestinians are Muslims, some are for instance Christians. Before the establishment of the state of Israel, the Jews who had been living there had up to this point been considered Palestinians too. Palestine was simply a geographic label for this areas. After Israel was established, the Palestinians Jews identified as Israelis and "Palestinian"became a label for the remaining, largely (but not exclusively) Muslim population.


So what is it about? It is clearly about land. Land which is considered as "holy" by three different religions.