Picasso Museum Barcelona
If you are visiting Barcelona and have any interest in the art world at all,
you cannot deny yourself a visit to the Picasso Museum. Featuring one of the
most extensive collections of the famous 20th century Spanish artist, Pablo
Picasso, this museum is housed in five interconnected medieval palaces in
the Barri Gothic, the centre of the old city of Barcelona.
The Picasso Museum is known as the wish of an artist to make his art a permanent
part of the city that was such an important part of his career. Picasso came to
Barcelona in 1894, and thereafter divided his time between Barcelona and
Paris. Barcelona was the city that shaped his youth and adolescence, and his
mark remains on the city years after his death.
Viewing this collection is akin to watching a young man's relationship with his
city. The Picasso Museum describes the work of Picasso before he left Barcelona
to travel to Paris, and in the paintings in the permanent collection, you
can see his relationship with the city. In his paintings of the urban landscape
and of the street scenes that he became famous for, one can see Picasso's
Barcelona a place that left its indelible mark on him.
Pablo Picasso, as the co-founder of cubism, was one of the most
influential artists of the twentieth century. With his breaks from slavish
realism and with his deep insight into the psychology and feeling invested in a
painting, Picasso opened up an era of modern art. His work is largely
divided up into periods, all distinct, all equally important to the
understanding of the artist's vision as a whole.
Though the later periods are often contested, Picasso's work can usually be
divided into the Blue Period, the Rose Period, the African-influenced
Period, Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism. Works representative of each
period can be seen at the Picasso Museum, but where this museum really shines is
in its devotion to Picasso's early works. Particularly, there is a
fascinating representation of Picasso's work from 1917, when he met his first
wife, the ballerina Olga Kokhlova and journeyed to Rome. The Picasso
Museum's collection shows a clear transition from Cubism to Picasso's return to
classicism after his journey to Italy and in terms of his famous Blue
Period, there is no other collection in the world that can compare.
The Picasso Museum of Barcelona opened its doors to the public on March 9, 1963
and was called the Sabartés Collection. This first portion of the
sprawling museum occupied the Palau Aquilar, the first of the five palaces that
would eventually end up sheltering the large collection. In 1970, a total of 920
works were donated to the museum by Picasso himself, works that had been until
that time, safeguarded by Picasso's parents, his sister and his sister's
children. This influx of material forced the museum to enlarge and take over the
palace of the Baron of Castellet.
If you visit this museum, you will also be able to take in some of the most
beautiful architecture that Barcelona's Barri Gothic has to offer. Located on
the historic Carrer de Montcada, the buildings of the Picasso Museum are
rich in a history that goes back hundreds of years. The Aquilar, Baro de
Castellet and Meca palaces hold the permanent collections of the Picasso Museum,
and renovations are currently underway to modernize the structures as well as
maintain its presence and charm. The renovations started in 1999, and since
then, Casa Mauri and the Palau Finestres have housed the museum's temporary
exhibits. All five of the buildings have roots going back to the thirteenth
century, when the area was among the newest to be enclosed by city walls. These
historic buildings give you a real idea of what Barcelona was like 600 hundred
years ago, a feeling that cannot be duplicated in many other cities.
Picasso Museum: Opening Hours
As one of the most popular and most visited museums in Barcelona, the Picasso
Museum is quite accessible to anyone who is interested in visiting its hallowed
halls. It is open Tuesdays to Sunday from 10 A.M. to 8 P.M. and is closed on
working Mondays. Annually, it is closed January 1, May 1, June 24, and December
25 and 26. Free entrance is available February 11, May 18 and September 24.
If you have any interest in art, architecture, or history, this is one museum
that you cannot miss!
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