Picasso Museum

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The Collection at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona has gradually taken shape over the years mainly as a result of the major donations by Picasso and Jaume Sabartés, but also thanks to generous acts by private collectors and the artist’s heirs, as well as valuable acquisitions by Barcelona City Council.

The Collection is built on two main pillars: works from Picasso’s youth and formative years, and theLas Meninas series from 1957. As a result, the Museu Picasso is the only place where the artist’s work from his formative years can be studied at a single centre, and it is the only place to have a complete series of works from the 1950s and 1960s showing Picasso’s interpretations of works by other artists.

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is a key reference for understanding the formative years of Pablo Ruiz Picasso. The genius of the young artist is revealed through the 4,249 works that make up the permanent collection. Furthermore, the Museu Picasso, opened in 1963, also reveals his deep relationship with Barcelona: an intimate, solid relationship that was shaped in his adolescence and youth, and continued until his death. <br style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" />The history of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona is the chronicle of the artist’s firm wish to leave the imprint of his art in our city. Thanks to the wishes of Picasso and his friend and personal secretary, Jaume Sabartés, Barcelona now has the youthful work of one of the twentieth century’s most significant artists.

The Museum is very rich in regard to work from the training periods in the life of the artist; we could say that it is practically exhaustive up to the Blue Period, of which the Museum has a priceless group of works. Furthermore, the Museum houses an important representation of works from 1917, and the series, Las Meninas (1957) and a very large Picasso’s prints collection, now displayed in the rooms opened in the beginning of 2008.

The Museum has undergone successive renovations and expansions, and it’s currently starting to develop new programmes, activities and services to become a reference place, envisaged to spreading knowledge and to fostering the visitor’s participation and critical views. The Museum wishes to be a dialogue space, exploring new approaches to Picasso’s work and influence and offering new perspectives on the Museum Collection.

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