Musée Picasso
Encyclopedia
Le Marais
Le Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance...
district of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
dedicated to the work of the artist Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
(1881-1973).
Building
The hôtel particulierHôtel particulier
In French contexts an hôtel particulier is an urban "private house" of a grand sort. Whereas an ordinary maison was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing, and by the 18th century it...
that houses the collection was built between 1656 and 1659 for Pierre Aubert, seigneur de Fontenay, a tax farmer who became rich collecting the gabelle or salt tax
Gabelle
The gabelle was a very unpopular tax on salt in France before 1790. The term gabelle derives from the Italian gabella , itself from the Arabic qabala....
(the name of the building means "salted"). The architect was Jean Boullier from Bourges
Bourges
Bourges is a city in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.-History:...
, also known as Boullier de Bourges; sculpture was carried out by the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy
Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy
The brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy were French sculptors...
and by Martin Desjardins
Martin Desjardins
Martin Desjardins, born Martin van den Bogaert was a French sculptor and stuccoist of Dutch birth.He was born at Breda, the son of a milliner in a house that would later carry the name 'de Drye Bredasche Hoeden'...
. It is considered to be one of the finest historic houses in the Marais.
The mansion has changed hands several times through both sales and inheritances. The occupants have included the Embassy of the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
(1671), then François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi
François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi
François de Neufville, 2ème duc de Villeroy was a French soldier.-Biography:Villeroy was born in Lyon into noble family which had risen into prominence in the reign of Charles IX....
; it was expropriated by the State during the Revolution; in 1815 it became a school, in which Balzac studied; it also housed the municipal Ecole des Métiers d'Art. It was acquired by the City of Paris in 1964, and was granted historical monument status in 1968. The mansion was restored by Bernard Vitry and Bernard Fonquernie of the Monuments Historiques between 1974-1980.
The Hotel Salé was selected for the Musée Picasso after some contentious civic and national debate. A competition was held to determine who would design the facilities. The proposal from Roland Simounet
Roland Simounet
Roland Simounet was a French architect known primarily for his design of the Musée Picasso in Paris and the LaM in Villeneuve d'Ascq.-Biography:...
was selected in 1976 from amongst the four that were submitted. Other proposals were submitted by Roland Castro and the GAU (Groupement pour l'Architecture et l'Urbanisme), Jean Monge, and Carlo Scarpa. For the most part, the interior of the mansion (which had undergone significant modifications) was restored to its former spacious state.
Formation of the collection
In 1968, France created a law that permitted heirs to pay inheritance taxes with works of art instead of money, as long as the art is considered an important contribution to the French cultural heritage. This is known as a dation, and it is allowable only in exceptional circumstances. Dominique Bozo, a curator of national museums, selected those works that were to become the dation Picasso. This selection was reviewed by Jean Leymarie and ratified in 1979. It contained work by Picasso in all techniques and from all periods, and is especially rare in terms of its excellent collection of sculptures. Upon Jacqueline PicassoJacqueline Roque
Jacqueline Roque was the second wife of Pablo Picasso and his frequent model. Picasso spent the last 20 years of his life with Roque, during which time he created more than 400 portraits of her. They had no children....
's death in 1986, her daughter offered to pay inheritance taxes by a new dation. The collection has also acquired a number of works through purchases and gifts.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
including drawings, ceramics, sculptures in wood and metal, and paintings. This is complemented by Picasso's own personal art collection of works by other artists, including Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
, Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
, Rousseau
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...
, Seurat
Georges-Pierre Seurat
Georges-Pierre Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist painter and draftsman. He is noted for his innovative use of drawing media and for devising a technique of painting known as pointillism...
, de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
and Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
. It also contains some Iberian bronzes and a good collection of primitive art. One of the most impressive aspects of the museum is that it contains a large number of works which Picasso painted after his seventieth birthday.
Presentation of the works
The museum has also made a real effort to present accompanying information. For example, the work of cartoonists of the time who mocked or caricatured his work is displayed with Picasso's work from the 1950s. There are a few rooms with thematic presentations, but the museum largely follows a chronological sequence, displaying painting, drawings, sculptures and prints. Other items on display include photographs, manuscripts, newspaper clippings and photographs to provide additional contextual information.The second floor has a special area set aside for temporary exhibitions and prints. The third floor contains the library, the documentation and archives department (reserved for research), and the curator's offices.
Renovation and loan of works
The Musée Picasso closed for renovation in August 2009 and will remain closed until the spring of 2013. Anne Baldassari, the current director, curated an exhibition of 150 important paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings from the Museum for a temporary exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South WalesTemporary exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
This is a list of unique temporary exhibitions held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, organised chronologically and grouped by decade....
during the period of closure.