The Picasso-Museum is the main French national museum dedicated to the life and work of Pablo Picasso and the artists who were linked to him. It is housed in the 17th century Hôtel Salé in the renowned Marais district of Paris.
The Hôtel Salé, which has been entirely restored except for the panelling in the salon, which has been covered over, now houses the Picasso-Museum, designed by the architect Roland Simounet, and inaugurated on 28 September 1985. It contains the world's richest collection of works by the artist and covers all his periods.
It was refurbished from September 2011 - October 2014, work supervised by the architect Jean-François Bodin. The result: an exhibition space worthy of hosting the museum's collections, a facilitated visitor path. We walk with emotion in this historic setting modernized and refined where nearly 500 works of the master are exposed. And when you know that the museum has nearly 5,000 pieces, the opportunities to go and admire this exceptional heritage are numerous!
The immense Picasso-Museum collection
The inventory of the Picasso-Museum's online collection made in 2015, included 4,609 works out of a total of 4,949, of which 4,862 were by Picasso. There were also 17,623 photographs, 384 films, 11,000 books, 89 of them illustrated by Picasso, and 200,000 archival items:
- 297 paintings, including 254 by Picasso and 43 from his private collection of master paintings: 8 Matisse, 7 Renoir, 4 Le Douanier Rousseau, 3 Cézanne, 3 Corot, 2 Braque, 2 Derain, 2 Miró, 1 Courbet, Gauguin, Vuillard, Marie Laurencin, Modigliani, Van Dongen, Ernst, Balthus, Ortiz de Zárate, Chardin, Le Nain, and Master of the Procession of the Ram;
- of approximately 3,900 graphic works:
- 1,852 drawings, of which 1,773 are by Picasso, including some of the notebooks, 26 by Chirico, 9 by Cocteau, 5 by Seurat, 3 by Derain, Giacometti, Matisse and Max Jacob, 2 by Luis Fernández and Roland Penrose, 1 by Balthus, Braque, Brauner, Cézanne, Corot, Dalí, Laurencin and 14 other artists;
- 2,111 prints and posters, including 1,781 prints by Picasso, 3 by Julio González, 11 by Degas, 1 by Marcoussis and Dalí;
- 264 matrices of prints by Picasso, on copper and various other supports;
- 223 sculptures, including 2 monumental ones, or 200 by Picasso, and 22 of the 110 Iberian, African and Oceanian objects from his former personal collection;
- 108 ceramics by Picasso;
- 18 works in 3 dimensions by Picasso, including assemblages;
- 2 objects: press and pallet chair;
- 51 furniture objects by Diego Giacometti.
By way of comparison, 20 French public collections hold works by Picasso. The National Museum of Modern Art in the Georges Pompidou Center, has "only" 185 works by the artist, including 72 paintings and 10 sculptures. Another example is the Musée de l'Orangerie with 12 paintings by Picasso.
The diversity of Picasso's works and collections
Picasso was an artist who practiced his art in many fields. The same was true of the objects he collected throughout his life:
- Ceramics
- Engravings
- Paintings
- Photography
- Sculpture
The Picasso-Museum offers a varied cultural selection, aimed at all types of audiences, with the ambition of sharing Picasso's work with as many people as possible.
Retrospective of the life of Pablo Picasso
This retrospective of the artist's life, from his birth to his death, illustrates Picasso's long and busy life. To consult it click on "Almost a century of an exceptional artist".
Map of the Picasso-Museum
To facilitate your visit to the Picasso-Museum, consult the map of the exhibition rooms by clicking on chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/sites/default/files/2021-05/Plan%20PR-F-Rodin.pdf
The origin of the collections of the Picasso-Museum: mainly donations from the heirs
Picasso's personal collection, which he had built up during his lifetime by gathering works by his friends (Braque, Matisse, Miró, Derain, etc.), masters he admired (Cézanne, Le Douanier Rousseau, Degas, Le Nain, etc.) and original works, was donated to the French State in 1978 before his death to be presented at the Louvre Museum. It naturally became part of the Picasso-Museum's collection when it was created.
In 1990, four years after the death of Picasso's wife Jacqueline Roque, the museum received a new dation. 47 paintings, 2 sculptures, about forty drawings, ceramics, engravings, enrich and complete the initial collection. Finally, in 1992, Picasso's personal archives were donated to the State. With their thousands of documents and photographs, which cover the whole of Picasso's life, they contribute to making the Picasso Museum the main center for the study of the artist's life and work.
8 million Euros: the theft of a notebook of drawings, whose value is estimated at 8 million euros, was found in the museum on June 9, 2009
How the Hôtel Salé became the Picasso Museum
The Hôtel Salé is probably, as Bruno Foucart wrote in 1985, "the largest, the most extraordinary, not to say extravagant of the great Parisian hotels of the 17th century". It has had several occupants, and this is even a characteristic feature of this place, which, paradoxically, has been until its allocation as a museum, little "inhabited", but rented to various individuals, prestigious guests and institutions.
The first owner of the Hôtel Salé: Pierre Aubert de Fontenay
The Hotel Salé was built by Pierre Aubert de Fontenay, in parallel with another famous and ambitious construction. This was the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte by Nicolas Fouquet. In fact, Pierre Aubert was a protégé of Fouquet who made his fortune in the 1630s and 1640s and became an important financier in Paris, advisor and secretary to the king. The "gabelles farm" (salt taxes) was a success. Pierre Aubert de Fontenay collected the salt tax in the name of the king in exchange for a lump sum (smaller, of course), which further consolidated his financial position. This charge gave its usual name to the hotel, which was soon nicknamed "l'Hôtel Salé" (the salt hotel), a reference to the French word "sel", whose adjective is declined as "salé".
The future owner of the Hôtel Salé was a wealthy "Bourgeois gentilhomme" seeking to show off his recent social ascension. He chose a neighborhood that was not yet saturated with buildings, and which Henri IV had wanted to encourage by building the Place Royale (now Place des Vosges). On May 16, 1656, Pierre Aubert, lord of Fontenay, bought a 3,700 square meter plot of land north of the Rue de la Perle from the nuns of Saint-Anastase for 40,000 pounds. Three years later, in the last days of 1659, the work was completed and Pierre Aubert could move into his new hotel. The sculpted decoration, including the sumptuous staircase, was entrusted to the brothers Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy and to Martin Desjardins.
Architecture of the moment of construction known as "mazarine
The Hotel Salé is a typical example of Mazarine architecture, marked by a profound renewal of architectural forms. The Italian Baroque, introduced by Cardinal Mazarin, was in vogue and led architects to imagine new volumes, which they combined with the heritage of François Mansart. Thus, the Hôtel Salé has a double main building and a double row of rooms, an innovation that allows the expansion of the surface. Its plan is asymmetrical: the courtyard façade is divided in two by a perpendicular wing that separates the main courtyard from the lower courtyard. The courtyard itself reflects the innovations of the time: it is inscribed in a tense curve that energizes the facade. The latter is punctuated by seven bays of openings that highlight the central forebuilding on three levels.
The pediment of the small classical forebuilding refers to Mansart; above it, the immense pediment with its armorial motif decorated with acanthus, fruit and flowers, looks towards the Baroque. The abundance of the sculpted decoration (Sphinxes and Amours) is also a sign of the overall Baroque character of the façade. The one on the garden is more sober.
Finally, the grand staircase is the masterpiece of the house. It is based on Michelangelo's staircase in the Laurentian Library in Florence. No closed cage, but two flights of imperial steps, overhung by a projecting balcony and a gallery. Multiplying the effects of perspective, the plunging views, the staircase is a showroom. As for the sculpted stucco decoration, it has been described as "a sort of plastic translation of Hannibal Carracci's paintings in the Farnese Gallery" (Jean-Pierre Babelon): eagles holding thunderbolts, genii with garlands, Corinthian pilasters, various divinities make the eye swirl.
In 1660, Pierre Aubert de Fontenay purchased various buildings that impeded access to the rue Vieille-du-Temple through the gardens. Among these, there is a "jeu de paume" which housed the Théâtre du Marais from 1634 to 1673, and where Corneille created his first plays, Pierre Aubert having maintained the lease to the actors of the time.
How the Hôtel Salé became the Picasso-Museum
The Hôtel Salé is probably, as Bruno Foucart wrote in 1985, "the largest, the most extraordinary, not to say extravagant of the great Parisian hotels of the 17th century". It has had several occupants, and this is even a characteristic feature of this place, which, paradoxically, until its allocation as a museum, was little "inhabited", but rented to various individuals, prestigious guests and institutions.
Pierre Aubert's successors
Pierre Aubert will make only a passage of a little more than 3 years in this luxury. He fell out with Nicolas Fouquet in 1663!
After its ruin, this sumptuous hotel is the object of the covetousness of many creditors. The legal proceedings lasted sixty years. During this time, the hotel is rented to the Republic of Venice to hold its embassy, then it is sold in 1728. In 1790, during the Revolution and as an "emigrant's property", it was sequestered and used as a "national literary depository" to store and inventory books discovered in the convents of the neighborhood. It was sold again in 1797 and remained in the same family until 1962. During this period, it was rented to various institutions: the Ganser and Beuzelin boarding school, attended by Balzac, the École d'Ingénieurs de Centrale des arts et manufactures (1829-1884), then a master bronze and iron worker, Henri Vian, who was succeeded by a consortium with the same activity (until 1941), and finally, from 1944 onwards, the École des métiers d'art de la Ville de Paris.
The City of Paris bought the hotel in 1962 (after expropriation) and it was classified as a historical monument on October 29, 1968. Nothing remains of its original layout. The City of Paris did not create the costume museum as planned but, after Picasso's death (April 8, 1973), it leased the Hôtel Salé to the State, which installed the museum dedicated to the artist. It was in 1974 that the meeting between the collection of Picasso's works and the Hôtel Salé was decided. In 1976, a competition designated Roland Simounet to design the museum in the fully restored historic hotel. From 1974 to 1979, the hotel regained most of its initial volumes, before being reorganized by the architect Roland Simounet. The museum was opened to the public in 1985.
The last period of major renovation and expansion of the Picasso-Museum (September 2011 - October 2014)
The National Picasso-Museum was closed for 3 years. During the period of renovation, a representative group of works from the collection is presented in major international exhibitions organized by the museum under the title: "Masterpieces from the national Picasso-Museum, Paris".
These exhibitions, which are not loans but rentals, have earned the museum 31 million euros between 2008 and 2012. This program has included 14 stages in 11 different countries.
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