James Walton

A Picasso doc that – amazingly – focuses on how great he was

Plus: Amanda Holden might want a word with her agent after presenting Sex: A Bonkers History

Pablo Picasso with lover Fernande Olivier and writer Ramon Reventos in Barcelona. Credit: © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Franck Raux. Photographer: Joan Vidal i Ventosa  
issue 23 September 2023

Earlier this year, the Guardian took a break from arguing that ‘cancel culture’ is a right-wing myth to ask the question, ‘Should we cancel Picasso?’ He is, after all, ‘the ultimate example of problematic white guys clogging up the artistic canon’.

Given the programme’s title – and the BBC’s increasing loss of nerve – you could be forgiven for thinking Picasso: The Beauty and the Beast was bound to get bogged down in the same tedious and apparently non-mythical 2020s obsessions.

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