The Awesome Malaga Picasso Museum

Even after 30 years, the late Picasso still lives; at least through his marvelous masterpieces. Right here in Malaga, Spain, Picasso stands grand in his hometown and birthplace. In his honor, the town has erected a special museum to house some of his best masterpieces in the Museo Picasso, which was previously a palace in the ancient quarter, restored for this particular purpose. It is barely 5 minutes away from the great artist’s birthplace.

A tribute

The Malaga Museum that is built in honor of Pablo Picasso, the great and talented artist, has drawn this town into the public eye. The works of the 12th century artist are now available in the artist’s hometown as was his desire. There are only 3 museums in the world which have been dedicated to Picasso’s art pieces, and Malaga’s Picasso Museum is one such museum.

Picasso has become an icon to many great and budding artists even in the 20th century where his style and techniques motivate others in today’s modern art forms.

Location

One can locate the great artist’s works easily as the dedicated museum is right at the center of the historic city. It is right in the Buenavista Palace that has existed since the 16th century. This preserved and renovated palace houses many of Picasso’s paintings on a permanent basis.It has a large capacity to fill the spacious rooms of this noble house that is very Andalusian in style, although its architecture was influenced by both Renaissance and Mudejar designs. The main financier of restoration works on the Buenavista Palace, Christine Ruiz-Picasso, made the special request of incorporating Andalusian architecture to reflect the grandeur of the great artist and his magnificent works.

There are 12 halls in Picasso Museum that showcases about 200 art pieces that are considered ‘permanent’ collection. It has an art gallery that is formed by 4 halls that house temporary exhibits. Along with these exhibition halls, there is a library, an assembly hall, an educational department, and a promotion center with an investigation component.

The permanent collection comprises the great artist’s art pieces which his daughter-in-law, Christine Ruiz-Picasso, has donated or loaned to the museum. There are now 204 permanent pieces on display, with 133 pieces from Christine’s personal collection. Besides another 49 pieces that are on a 10-year loan, Picasso’s grandson, Bernard, also loaned 40 pieces for one year. These are Picasso’s heritage collections which are of immense value that have been presented to his family but have not been viewed by the public. Some of these exquisite pieces are now made available to the public eye such as the 1917 Olga Kokhlova, the 1921/2 Madre y Niño and the 1923 Gorro Blanco.

Exhibitions

It is not just Picasso’s art paintings that draw in the crowds; he was very much into ceramics and tradition which were from the Mediterranean history which intrigued him.

Picasso also loved to dabble in interior decoration besides on the palette. He added sculptures, ceramics and graphics at his first dedicated museum in France.