Picasso heir refuses to allow Civil War pieces to be shown

What was billed as a momentous occasion for the Picasso Museum of Málaga on Monday turned into a bitter war of words between the celebrated Spanish painter's daughter-in-law, Christine Ruiz-Picasso, and the organizers of two temporary exhibitions.

The shows, Picasso creates. Through the camera of David Douglas Duncan, and Vignettes on the front were due to be unveiled in unison but Ruiz-Picasso, the honorary president of the museum's foundation, refused to allow the latter to go ahead. The pieces, illustrations against the military uprising in 1936 that were to be sold to raise funds at the Spanish Republic's stand at the Paris Expo, are part of a series of etchings, The Dream and Lie of Franco.

In a handwritten letter, Ruiz-Picasso complained about their inclusion, saying she had no knowledge of the showing, and called the decision an "opportunistic political use [of the work] in a period of electoral controversy." The Socialist Andalusian regional culture chief, Paulino Plata, countered that "all the members of the Picasso Museum Foundation" knew of the inclusion of the works and denied any "partisan or opportunistic" intent.