In a world where arguably anyone with a tablet and some digital art knowledge can call themselves an artist, Picasso’s talent as a hands-on sketcher and painter shines through. He started as a youngster with the advantage of having a painter for a father, and had already reached a level as an adolescent, beyond that of many adults, before entering the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and, later, the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid where he honed his skills.

But, not one to rest on his laurels, Picasso explored and reinvented his style —sometimes to the ridicule of his peers, for whom his departures from convention, must have been considered unthinkable flights of fancy from a man they thought capable of much more. You can imagine the whispers and raised eyebrows at his exhibitions…

But, when we understand Picasso’s accomplished starting point, we can appreciate what he was trying to do: throw off the shackles of convention to arrive at a new way of depicting and seeing; and we can appreciate his pioneering spirit. In fact, we read, during the exhibition, that his adult goal as an artist, was to produce art akin to a child’s —a feat he believes took him 70 years to manage. One of the highlights of the exhibition, and everyone picks up on different things, are the videos of the artist at work, painting on glass (20 years ago, at the Hayward Gallery in London, I was struck by video of him ‘drawing’ with sparklers). It offers a keyhole onto the flow that enveloped him while working; and his relentlessness to convey his work to a destination that felt right to him.