Picasso's Private Collection Draws US Crowds

    Works by Pablo Picasso, one of the most important artists of the modern era(时代,年代), have been touring the globe while their home in Paris is renovated¹. They recently arrived at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which is located in the state capital of Richmond.
    There are nearly 200 works in the exhibition(展览), spanning 71 years of Picasso's lengthy² career from 1901 to 1972, the year before his death.
    "We have 5,000 works and we present here about 200," says Anne Baldassari, curator of the exhibition and director of the Musee National Picasso in Paris, the permanent home of the Picasso collection. "So it is just a small part that is set in a very didactic way to give the best understanding of the Picasso creative process."The exhibit also offers an understanding of how Picasso wanted to be seen.
    "This is Picasso’s personal collection," says Alex Nyerges, director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "During his lifetime he kept all of the things he loved the best, thousands upon thousands of works of art. When his estate was being settled, the Musee Picasso was created."The works represent every media and every style Picasso worked in.
    "He was in a perpetual(永久的) revolution," says Baldassari. "Painting was the main medium for him.  Sculpture was a kind of matrix. He was a very important photographer and fantastic print maker³. He was a real creator."Nyerges agrees. "He essentially⁴ created what we think of as modern and contemporary art. Everything that happened in the 20th century and now the 21st century relates back to Picasso in some way, shape or form."Picasso took his inspiration not only from European art, but also non-Western art, which becomes clear in a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ African art galleries.
    "The juxtaposition⁵ of those exhibitions and the Picasso show is marvelous," says Nyerges, "because you see how Picasso is drawing back into Africa for form and composition and particularly with sculpture."The exhibit is a coup⁶ for the museum. It is part of a limited national and international tour of the greatest collection of Picasso in the world. The show gives Picasso’s admirers a chance to see some of the works the artist himself valued most.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

2 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 juxtaposition   

n.毗邻，并置，并列

参考例句：

• The juxtaposition of these two remarks was startling.这两句话连在一起使人听了震惊。
• It is the result of the juxtaposition of contrasting colors.这是并列对比色的结果。

6 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。