Paul Smith designed immersive sets for 80+ Picassos at Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery organised the exhibition with the Musée national Picasso-Paris and wanted a presentation that would reach audiences — particularly younger ones — less familiar with Picasso's work.

A fashion designer, not a curator, stages the show: lighting, wall and floor treatments and signature stripes give each Picasso room its own setting.

Smith responded to Picasso's imagery, styles, materials and the context of the time, experimenting with lighting, wall and floor treatments and his signature stripes across 80+ paintings, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings tracing the Blue Period, Rose Period and Cubism.

The exhibition runs October 10, 2026 to February 1, 2027 — the first major Picasso solo shown in Aotearoa in more than 30 years; attendance figures are not yet available.

'Picasso: Designed by Paul Smith' at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki hands the presentation of over 80 Picasso works — paintings, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings from the Musée national Picasso-Paris — to the British fashion designer known for injecting colour and fun into menswear.

The exhibition covers pivotal moments of Picasso's career, from the Blue and Rose Periods to Cubism, but Smith transforms the traditional gallery space around each work. Exploring the shared interest in objects and dress and a mutual sense of fun between the two figures, he experiments with lighting, wall and floor treatments and his signature stripes. 'My approach is not academic,' Smith explains. 'I am looking to take visitors on a visual journey that encourages them to see Picasso's masterpieces in a new light.'

The designer treatment is aimed partly at younger audiences less familiar with the master, and it lands after a long drought: more than 30 years have passed since a major solo Picasso exhibition was seen in Aotearoa. The show runs from October 10, 2026 to February 1, 2027.

A conventional retrospective was unlikely to draw audiences unfamiliar with Picasso, so staging went to a designer whose fashion following extends beyond the museum-going public.

Smith's instinctive, non-academic approach treats each room as part of the artwork, turning the exhibition itself into the draw.

The pairing is grounded in real overlap: Picasso's interest in objects and dress and Smith's sense of fun give the staging a rationale beyond novelty.

Give a beloved archive to an outsider with a strong visual instinct: a fashion designer's room-making can pull in the young, non-museum audience a scholarly retrospective never reaches.

The exhibition opened on October 10, 2026 and runs to February 1, 2027 at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, organised in collaboration with the Musée national Picasso-Paris.