The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is in the heart of the old city on the Carrer Moncada and since its recent expansion now sprawls over a row of five Gothic palaces once - in late medieval times - home to Barcelona’s aristocrats.
Picasso though born in Malaga, moved to Barcelona with his family in 1895 and Barcelona was important to his formative years, with his first public exhibition at the Quatre Gats in 1897. The Museum, opened in 1963, hold an important collection of his early work.
The collection doesn’t immediately strike one as being a very extensive one. Among the early work, there are a couple of curious paintings of the beach at Barceloneta as it was 100 years ago, complete with donkeys and none of the landmarks to be seen there at present.
Probably the most famous work that the Barcelona collection does include are Las Meninas, a suite of 58 works analyzing Velázquez's painting Las Menas, which the museum’s chronological collection suddenly jumps to. The Museu Picasso as it is known is the most visited art gallery in Barcelona and caters to over 1,000,000 visitors per year. This gallery is home to one of the World’s largest collection of Picasso’s artwork.
The museum’s curators have arranged the paintings in chronological order from Picasso's early days to his final works. Arranging the paintings in this way gives a person an interesting insight into the development of Picasso thinking over time and shows how he developed the distinctive designs that he is famous for.
The Barcelona Picasso Museum undoubtedly confirms the ties that unite Pablo Picasso with the city of Barcelona. He did not only finish a solid academic training here, but the artistic effervescence that he experienced in the city was the starting point that opened up for him the path to modernity. The museum has the most important and comprehensive collections of the works of Pablo Picasso’s youth and education, in particular the ones he did between 1895 and 1904, the years in which the young artist lived in Barcelona.
The museum has a most impressive collection of works and a very good library. The Picasso Museum is across Via Laietana, down Carrer de la Princesa, and right on Carrer Montcada - a street known for Barcelona’s most elegant medieval palaces. Picasso spent several of his formative years in Barcelona, and this collection, while not one of the world’s best, is particularly strong on his early work. Displays include childhood sketches, pictures from the beautiful Rose and Blue periods, and the famous 1950s Cubist variations on Velázquez’s Las Meninas (Ladies-in-Waiting).
The Barcelona Picasso Museum clearly confirms the ties that unite Pablo Picasso with the city of Barcelona. He did not only finish a solid academic training here, but the artistic effervescence that he experienced in the city was the starting point that opened up for him the path to modernity.
The museum has continued to grow with donations from all over the world and from the artist himself. The works best represented period is that of the artist’s childhood and youth- First Communion and Science and Charity.
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