Room 1

Welcome to the Musée national Picasso-Paris!

Pablo Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. He left his home country at the age of 19 and moved to Paris to pursue his career as an artist. Throughout his life, he acquired countless paintings, sculptures and ceramics, as well as drawings, engravings and other artworks. After his death, part of his collection was donated to the French state, which opened this museum housing the world’s biggest collection of Picasso’s works.

Enjoy your visit!

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), L’Artiste devant sa toile, Paris, 22 mars 1938, Fusain sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. 

Who is this artist at work? The man’s hair is combed to one side, he has a straight nose and is wearing a striped sailor sweater. It is clearly a self-portrait by Pablo Picasso! In the history of art, many painters have depicted themselves, brushes and palette in hand. Here, Picasso has accentuated the size of his eyes and his right arm, which gives him a look of intense concentration.

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Room 3

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Femme aux mains jointes (étude pour Les Demoiselles d’Avignon), Paris, printemps 1907, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

Look at the background of this painting. Can you see the silhouettes under the white paint? These clues are invaluable because they give us an insight into how Pablo Picasso worked. Before producing his final painting, he practised by making numerous sketches and studies. He drew, erased and started again until he found the solution. When he painted this Femme aux mains jointes (Woman with Clasped Hands), he was preparing one of his most famous works: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

 

Room 4

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Homme à la guitare, Paris, automne 1911, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

Can you see the man with the guitar in this jumble of shapes? To put the pieces back together, follow the clues: a moustache, the neck of a guitar and a piece torn from a sheet of music. Here, Pablo Picasso has exploded his subject into a mass of geometric shapes while leaving a few recognisable elements. This is known as a Cubist painting.

 

Room 5

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Nature morte à la chaise canée, Paris, printemps 1912, Huile et toile cirée sur toile encadrée de corde, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

Have you ever made a collage? Pablo Picasso made the first collage in the history of art. This technique may seem commonplace to you, but for its time, it was completely new. Usually, artists painted or drew every detail in their paintings. For Nature morte à la chaise cannée (Still Life with Chair Caning), Picasso painted the top half of his canvas with geometric shapes and then glued a piece of waxed canvas imitating the pattern of a chair onto the bottom part.

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Paul en Arlequin, Paris, 1924, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

In his colourful costume, Pablo Picasso’s son Paul looks ready for a carnival parade. He is dressed as Harlequin, a famous character from commedia dell’arte, a type of comic theatre invented in Italy. Picasso was always fascinated by the world of entertainment. Before painting this picture, he made costumes and stage sets for the Ballets Russes dance company. He followed them on tour in Italy, where he met the dancer Olga Khokhlova, who would become his first wife and Paul’s mother.

 

Room 7

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), La Flûte de Pan, Paris, automne 1923, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

Do you think these are two figures from Antiquity or two modern-day bathers returning from the beach? Pablo Picasso doesn’t give us many clues about the period he is portraying. The musician is playing the panpipes, an ancient instrument that is also found in Greek mythology, but the buildings and clothing do not suggest any particular period.

Imagine yourself in the place of the standing figure. Can you feel the warmth of the sun on your skin? Can you hear the music being played by your companion?

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), L’Acrobate, Paris,18 janvier 1930, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. 

Did you come to visit the Picasso Museum with your family? When Pablo Picasso went out with his son Paul, he often took him to the circus. He was fascinated by the acrobats’ agility and was inspired by their contortions to create this painting. This strange figure is upside-down, balancing on one foot and one hand. Can you imitate this weird position?

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le Peintre et son modèle, [Paris], automne 1926, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.  

Pablo Picasso was taught to paint by his father, who was also an artist. He learned that you should start by drawing the lines before adding colour. Once he had grasped these principles, he broke all the rules. In this large painting, he applied the colour before the lines. The colours and lines are no longer connected. Could you be as rebellious as Picasso in your next creation? Don’t be afraid to go outside the outlines with your pencils and brushes!

 

Room 9

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Figure, [Paris ou Boisgeloup], 1935, Louche, griffes, bois, ficelle et clous, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

When Pablo Picasso made sculptures, he didn’t necessarily use clay, plaster or stone. He was able to create a statue out of just about anything! Can you identify the materials that make up this figure? From top to bottom, you’ll find a ladle, some string, wooden chopsticks and two tiny rakes. This is called an assemblage sculpture.

 

Room 14

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Femme assise dans un fauteuil rouge, Boisgeloup, 1932, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. 

Both a painter and a sculptor, Pablo Picasso never really differentiated between these two art forms. In the early 1930s, he modelled numerous portraits of women in plaster, several of which are on display in this room. These strange sculptures, made from a combination of rounded shapes, later inspired his paintings. The woman in the red armchair, which you can see here, is a painted version of his plaster statues.

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Portrait de Marie-Thérèse Walter, [Paris], 6 janvier 1937, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. 

Pablo Picasso was constantly inventing new ways of representing the human figure. Here, he paints his companion, Marie-Thérèse Walter, in profile and full face at the same time. Rather than creating a portrait from a single point of view, he chose to combine the two poses in the same painting. This “full face and profile” process is one of Picasso’s best-known inventions.

 

Room 16

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), L’Aubade, Paris, 4 mai 1942, Huile sur toile, Don de l’artiste en 1947, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle. 

During the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, France was occupied by Germany. Pablo Picasso painted L’Aubade in protest. An aubade is music played under the window of a loved one at dawn. Do you think this is the case for this woman? She looks more like a prisoner. Have you noticed the strange shape of her body? Lying on her spiky bed, she seems to be writhing in pain. What’s that woman beside her doing? Is she really a musician or is she a guard?

 

Room 18

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Chat saisissant un oiseau, Paris, 22 avril 1939, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. 

Do you think that this painting represents just a cat and a bird? When a subject sometimes seems difficult, painters might use a simpler image to tackle it. Pablo Picasso painted this picture at the end of the 1930s. At that time, the atmosphere was particularly tense in Europe, where conflicts were breaking out everywhere. By painting this animal attack, he skilfully condemned human violence in a work that was more political than it seems at first glance

 

Room 19

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), L’Homme au mouton, Paris, mars 1943, Bronze, fonte à la cire perdue C. Valsuani, entre 1948 et 1950, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

In Pablo Picasso’s work, some themes recur frequently, such as portraits of women, bullfighting and scenes of everyday life. L’Homme au mouton (Man with a sheep) is a more unusual subject. Created during the war, this sculpture seems gentler than his anguished paintings of that period. At the time, the statue was compared to the Christian image of the Good Shepherd, a figure who embodies peace and generosity. But what does it make you think of today?

 

Room 20

- Vitrine céramique : Picasso céramiste : Vallauris, collaboration avec Atelier Madura : une nouvelle technique à laquelle il s’essaye à la fin des années 1940 : intérêt de Picasso pour la plasticité du matériau

Driven by curiosity, Pablo Picasso experimented with new techniques throughout his career. In the late 1940s, he moved to Vallauris, a village in the south of France known for its potteries. He collaborated with a studio and produced numerous pieces, including plates, dishes, vases and even small statuettes made from bottles. With his ceramics, Picasso wanted to make art more affordable by producing everyday objects that were also genuine works of art.

 

Room 21

- Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Nature morte aux oranges, Tanger (Maroc), début 1912, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Donation Picasso, 1978. Collection personnelle Pablo Picasso.

Do you know why this painting by Henri Matisse is on display at the Musée Picasso? It’s because it belonged to Pablo Picasso’s personal collection. He bought paintings and drawings by great French artists from art dealers. He also owned several sculptures from Africa and Oceania, the names of whose creators are unknown.

 

Room 22

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Jeune fille assise, Mougins, 21 novembre 1970, Huile sur contreplaqué, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979. 

Imagine for a moment Pablo Picasso painting this picture when he was very old. Facing his easel, he was no longer exploring the nuances of his colour palette. He applied pure blue, yellow, green and red. He no longer made preparatory drawings but painted directly onto the canvas, using sweeping movements. All his life, Picasso tried to unlearn how to draw and paint in order to constantly reinvent himself.

 

Room 23

- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le Jeune Peintre, Mougins, 14 avril 1972, Huile sur toile, Musée national Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979.

Now you are in the last room of the tour, looking at one of Pablo Picasso’s final paintings. This is another self-portrait of the artist. Do you see his brush and palette?

Although he was 91 years old when he painted this canvas, he depicted himself as a young man. He is dressed in a costume that recalls his Spanish culture: a cape and a matador’s hat. Perhaps he was thinking back to his youth in Spain and his early paintings.