Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Whatever you think about Picasso the man, as an artist he was unmatched in the 20th
century for his daring and productivity. The Picasso Museum has the world's largest col-
lection of Picasso's work. Following a major, multi-year, multi-million-dollar renovation,
the Picasso Museum is scheduled to reopen in early 2014. Check the museum's website
(
www.musee-picasso.fr
) for the latest on the reopening, and ask for a floor plan when you
arrive.
Cost and Hours:
Closed through early 2014; when it reopens likely €10, covered
by Museum Pass, additional fee for temporary exhibits, free on first Sun of month and for
those under age 18 with ID; likely open daily 9:00-19:30, some Sat until 22:00, last entry
45 minutes before closing; 5 Rue de Thorigny, Mo: St. Paul or Chemin Vert, tel. 01 42 71
25 21,
www.musee-picasso.fr
.
Visiting the Museum:
Some 400 paintings, sculptures, sketches, and ceramics are
here, spread across four levels of this mansion in the Marais. A visit here walks you
through the full range of this complex man's life and art.
Born in Spain, Picasso was the son of an art teacher. As a teenager he quickly ad-
vanced beyond his teachers. In 1900, Picasso set out to make his mark in Paris, the un-
disputed world capital of culture. The brash Spaniard quickly became a poor, homesick
foreigner, absorbing the styles of many painters (especially Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec)
whilesearchingforhisownartist'svoice.Whenhisbestfriendcommittedsuicide,Picasso
plunged into a “Blue Period,” painting emaciated beggars, hard-eyed pimps, and himself,
bundled up against the cold, with eyes all cried out (
Autoportrait
, 1901).
In 1904, Picasso moved into his Bateau-Lavoir home/studio on Montmartre, got a
steadygirlfriend,andsuddenlysawtheworldthroughrose-colored glasses(theRosePeri-
od, though the museum has very few of these). With his next-door neighbor, Georges
Braque, Picasso invented Cubism, a fragmented, “cube”-shaped style. He'd fracture a fig-
ure(suchasthemusicianin
ManwithaMandolin
,1911)intoabarelyrecognizablejumble
of facets, and facets within facets. In a few short years, Picasso had turned painting in the
direction it would go for the next 50 years.
After World War I, Picasso moved from Montmartre to the Montparnasse neighbor-
hood. In 1940, Nazi tanks rolled into Paris. Picasso decided to stay for the duration and
live under gray skies and gray uniforms. The most famous of Picasso's gray-colored war
paintings—
Guernica
—chronicled the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Picasso painted it in
Paris, but the work now hangs in Madrid.
At war's end, he left Paris, finding fun in the sun in the south of France. The
65-year-old Pablo Picasso was reborn, enjoying worldwide fame and the love of a beau-
tiful 23-year-old painter named Françoise Gilot. Picasso's Riviera works set the tone for
