Gloucestershire art lovers still have the chance to see real-life Picasso paintings — and for free! — at Cheltenham art gallery, The Wilson, this summer.
Its thought-provoking Radev exhibition is open until Sunday 15 September 2024, featuring 79 artworks from some of the most famous artworks of the 20th century.
Among pieces by Amadeo Modigliani, Vanessa Bell and of course, Pablo Picasso, the exhibition tells a story of ‘love, friendship and creativity amongst some of Britain’s greatest artists and collectors’, as well as highlighting an important chapter of queer history.
It celebrates the life of LGBTQ+ art collector, Mattei Radev, who escaped communist Bulgaria in fear of persecution in 1950.
He settled in London, forging a career as a picture framer, befriending the Bloomsbury Group — which included the likes of Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster — and going on to work with some of the most prolific artists of the 20th century.
Radev at The Wilson displays pieces of Impressionist and Modernist art from what is now known as The Radev Collection — an 800-strong private art collection, which was started by writer Eddy Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville, and left to his friend and former lover, art dealer Eardley Knollys, on his death. Mattei inherited the collection in 1991 and continued to grow it himself.
Masterfully weaving the stories of the three collectors together, the collection explores a poignant time in Britain’s queer history through art, supported by pieces from the Wilson Collection and new work by artist and columnist Luke Edward Hall.
