A traveler whose route runs through the capital of Catalonia in Spain should definitely visit the Pablo Picasso Museum. In Barcelona, this is one of the most remarkable and famous places.
History
The art museum was opened in 1963. The basis of the exhibition was the most valuable collection of Jaime Sabartes, a close friend and personal secretary of Picasso. Works of art called the “Sabartes Collection” are housed in the huge palace of Berenguer d'Agilar. One of the attractive features of this Gothic structure of five mansions is the numerous courtyards, thanks to which the Picasso Museum in Barcelona has acquired a special historical shade. In 1970, as a sign of gratitude to the city in which he spent his teenage years and studied at the school of fine arts, Pablo Picasso presented the museum with about two and a half thousand works, including paintings, drawings, sketches, prints, ceramics.
Mission
The museum sees its mission in being a unique place transmitting information, knowledge, new scientific approaches to the study of the work of a compatriot - an unrivaled artist Pablo Picasso. Therefore, the team is constantly developing new programs, services, events.
Location
The Picasso Museum in Barcelona can be found in the heart of the city on Moncada Street, in the Latin Quarter. If you use the metro services, you should leave at the Jaume I station, which is located on the yellow subway line. Like all museums in Barcelona, the exposition “rests” from visitors on Mondays, but all the rest of the days it opens its doors to guests. Experts estimate that at least one million art lovers visit the Picasso Museum in Barcelona annually. Periodically, the museum organizes on its site temporary exhibitions that are not related to the work of the famous Spaniard.
Collection
More than three and a half thousand artworks by the master are stored and exhibited by the Pablo Picasso Museum. These are early works that were created in the decade between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (1895-1904). These are drawings, sketches, sketches, which the artist did during his studies at the school of fine arts and which remained in the parental home. There are magnificent examples of impressionism of the “blue” and the beginning of the “pink” period of Picasso's work. Among the masterpieces of a later time are works transferred to the museum after the death of the artist by his widow. The famous Picasso Museum in Barcelona also boasts a series of paintings created based on Velasquez's “Meninas” paintings. Photos of the exposition in the brochures remind everyone who wants to see 44 paintings, interpretations of the great canvas (58 of them were written by Picasso). In 1917, during a period of enthusiasm for Russian ballet, the artist brought his future wife, ballerina Olga Khokhlova, to his native city. Works of that period also remained in Barcelona and ended up in the local museum. There is also a remarkable collection of printed graphics in it, which Picasso put aside one copy from the total circulation of each of his engravings.
Emotions of one day
The creativity of this Spanish genius is distinguished by great emotional strength and originality. Biographers talk about how his mother, laying little Pablo in bed, told him bedtime improvisations, which she invented on the go under the impression of the past day. The artist later admitted that he had painted the same way his whole life.
The ability to draw by Pablo Picasso opened in childhood, the first lessons were given to him by his father, a drawing teacher. The painting "Yellow Picador", painted in oil, was created just at that time under the impression of a bullfight. Now the work is stored in one of the private collections. The painting "First Communion" was painted by fifteen-year-old Picasso for an art exhibition, it differs in realism unlike the creative manner of the master, but contains that touching charm that did not completely disappear from the master’s works. In the academic manner, another remarkable genre painting by a young artist was created: “Knowledge and Mercy”. These unique early canvases are stored by the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. Here you can see a self-portrait of a young artist, portraits of mother and father.
Picasso began to study ceramics when he was 60 years old. Sculptural compositions with the participation of the hero of the theater del arte Harlequin, which are exhibited in the museum, before gaining volume, were painted on canvas.
Images of mythology and motives of the Golden Age of Spain were created by Picasso in a variety of techniques of lithographs, etchings, engravings. The master experimented with non-standard materials. The museum carefully stores works made on stone, copper, linoleum, celluloid, wood.
