What is the title of the 1956 documentary film that shows Picasso painting?

The 1956 documentary film showing Picasso painting is “Le Mystère Picasso.”

Directed by French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot, the film captures Picasso creating drawings, collages and oil paintings in real time. The camera often films from behind the working surface, allowing viewers to watch images appear and change without simply showing Picasso’s hand at work.

Picasso produces 20 works for the film, beginning with simple black-and-white marker drawings and progressing to more elaborate compositions. Ink that bled through the paper helped make the drawing process visible, while editing and stop-motion-like effects conveyed the transformation of the paintings.

The French-language film premiered in France on 18 May 1956 and won the Special Jury Prize at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. “A Visit to Picasso” is a different, earlier Belgian documentary from 1949, which explains why it is a plausible but incorrect option.