A strange weekend in Seattle

A trip to Seattle to see Harry Potter The Exhibition and Picasso: Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris seems like the oddest of juxtapositions. On one hand we have a child’s story, full of witchcraft and fantastical creatures, stories that have become a world sensation. A sensational pop culture phenomenon. And then there is Picasso, an artist born more than a century before even the idea of Harry Potter. Picasso once said “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” He was also a pop culture phenomenon – one that could paint with great grace as well as great harshness. Harry Potter is a boy becoming a man, while Picasso was a man who seemed to be becoming a boy. As odd as the combination is they made for a great weekend.