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Follow the Evolution of Cubism at the Musée Picasso in Paris
Published by Marjorie McAtee, Writer
Country: France 
The Experience
The Hôtel Salé, where the Musée Picasso is located, was constructed in 1656 by the architect Jean Boullier. Since 1985, the Hôtel Salé has been home to 156 works of sculpture and 203 paintings by Picasso. It was once the luxurious home of Pierre Aubert, a wealthy tax collector who paid for his home mostly from the proceeds of salt taxes, which he called “sale” after the French word for salty. The Musée Picasso is a French national museum that Picasso's family handed over to the state to pay for his estate’s taxes following his death.
Pablo Picasso lived in Paris from 1900, after fleeing Franco's regime in Spain. The eponymous Musée Picasso houses many of his own works of art, and is also home to works by Matisse, de Chirico, Rousseau, Dégas, and Cézanne, taken from Picasso's private collection. Some of Picasso's prized tribal masks are also on view.
The curators of the Musée National Picasso strive to present Picasso's work in a contemporary light. Popular caricatures of Picasso and his work are on display, as well as newspaper clippings, photographs, sketches and manuscripts. Curators of the Musée Picasso have attempted to present the collections in chronological order for a revealing account of Picasso's development as an artist. Visitors can follow Picasso's artist evolution from the Blue Period, to the Rose Period, and all the way through Cubism.
The Picasso collections are displayed on the museum's first floor. Temporary exhibitions from other artists are displayed on the museum's second floor; and the third floor houses the research library, which is not typically open to the public. Works on display in the Musée Picasso include his 1901 “Self Portrait”; his 1911 “Man with a Guitar”; and later pieces such as his 1970 self-portrait, “The Matador,” painted just a few years before his death.
When to Go to Musee Picasso
The Musée Picasso closed for renovations in August 2009, and reopens in 2012. During this time, many of the works are travelling the world, going on display in Fine Arts museums everywhere. The Hôtel Salé is located at number 5, rue de Thorigny, and accessible from metro lines 1 (station Saint-Paul), and 8 (stations Saint-Sébastien Froissart and Chemin Vert). Buses 29, 96, 69, and 75 also serve the location.
Odds n' Ends
Because of the inheritance taxes owed following Picasso’s death, a curator at the French national museums was offered to select works in lieu of payment (know in France as “dation”). This system only happens in exceptional circumstances, and applies to art considered of high value to French cultural heritage.
Places to Stay Nearby
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More Experiences Nearby
- Explore the Largest Modern Art Museum in Europe at Centre Georges Pompidou
- Anyone who’s walked through the Marais in Paris—that ritzy, Right Bank neighbourhood that stretches across the 3rd and 4th arrondissements—will have seen the Centre Georges Pompidou. The Centre Pompidou, known to Parisians as the Beauborg (because of its location on rue Beaubourg) is one of modern architecture's greatest achievements, and home to some of the world's best modern art. The doors of its Kandinsky Library are open to students, researchers, and the general public, and its cinema offers regular screenings of avant-garde films. Centre Georges Pompidou looks the way it does for a reason: it's inside out! Architects Renzo Piano, ...1 miles away.
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