24th February 2012

The history of Barcelona as told by the medieval courtyards of the Museu Picasso

One of the first tasks undertaken by the Centre for Knowledge and Research, soon after it was founded in 2009, was to ask the firm of Veclus, s.l. to carry out an architectural history study of the five palaces on carrer Moncada that are the current home of the Museu Picasso.

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16th February 2012

Two Old Friends Meet again in Space, Time and Art

After spending two years apart in different rooms of the Museu Picasso, now, as a result of a redistribution of the collection towards the end of 2011, two highlights of our collection —Woman’s Head (Fernande), from 1905, and Portrait of Madame Canals (1906), now known as Portrait of Benedetta Bianco — are on show in the same space once again, directly facing one another.

This new placing of the two works, the first a sculpture and the other a painting, reflects a desire to explain the influence of their respective models on the personal and artistic world of Picasso in Paris in the early years of the twentieth century.

Portrait of Benedetta Bianco | Woman’s Head (Fernande)

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17th January 2012

Picasso’s Barcelona Roofs

We are pleased to share with you some excerpts from an article by Francesc Pujols, ‘The Rooftops of Barcelona’, ​​first published in “La Publicidad” on 18 June 1920. Though written a few years after Picasso’s time in Barcelona, when he painted a number of pictures with the city’s rooftops as their theme, the writer seems to be describing some of the works in our collection. We are thankful to the poet Enric Casassess for sending us the article, which came to his mind as he was walking round the Museu Picasso.

Roofs of Barcelona. Pablo Picasso, 1903 Read more »

30th June 2011

Opening of the new Centre Picasso in Gósol

The 4th of June saw the opening of the new Centre Picasso in Gósol (Berguedà), in its new home on the top floor of the village school, on the Plaça Major. The complete refurbishment and remodelling has equipped the Centre with the facilities to present its collection of ethnographic exhibits from the time that Picasso stayed in the little town in the summer of 1906, along with graphic material and reproductions to the considerable number of works that the artist made there.

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12th May 2011

Picasso without Clichés at the Reading Club

Spring is here, and with it the second to last meeting of the Club. Our special guest this time was Pepe Serra, the Director of the Museu Picasso, and because Pepe is an expert on the subject of Picasso, we chose for this session a book that is crucial to any real understanding of the artist’s creative universe, and of his personality — in other words, both the work and the flesh-and-blood human being who made it possible. That book is Brassaï’s Conversations with Picasso.

Jorge Carrión & Pepe Serra

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13th April 2011

Montcada, a Street of Unique Shops

Carrer Montcada is one of the most singular streets in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella ‘old town’. The medieval palaces that line both sides for most of its length, with their imposing stone façades and porticoed courtyards, give it an unmistakable character of its own. The Museu Picasso opened its doors here almost fifty years ago, having found a home with a unique historic and artistic heritage. Following its example, other museums and art galleries have come to occupy spaces and buildings on the street, making it an exceptional nucleus of culture. But it’s not only culture that has found a place on carrer Montcada. Still open for business along the way are a number of historic shops, enduring testimony to the commercial importance that the district of La Ribera has had for hundreds of years.

Carrer Montcada. View from the Museu Picasso

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22nd March 2011

Some True Stories from the Museu Picasso

‘Can we see Picasso’s Mona Lisa?’ ‘Don’t you have any colour postcards of Guernica?’ Unlikely as they may seem, these are some of the odd questions and curious situations that confront the Museum staff from time to time. In its almost 50 years of existence the Museu Picasso has built up a rich stock of good stories — often funny, sometimes surprising and on occasion touching. Here are some of the anecdotes that have become abiding favourites among the Museum’s gallery staff.

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3rd February 2011

The Museum on Monday

So you think there’s no one in the Museum on a Monday?
Far from it! Monday is one of our busiest days of the week: the offices are full of people and in the exhibition rooms they’re working flat out to get everything ready for the new week. Take a look!

30th December 2010

2010 of the Picasso Museum in 21 images

By making a choice of the most representative images of the work we have done in the museum this year that is coming to a close, we ourselves have been able to visualise the reach and quantity of the projects in which the whole team has been working! With a relatively small team a lot of work has been carried out.  Whether it has been good or not is up to you to decide.  The rate of participation in the multiple activities organised, plus the more than one million visitors we have received, plus some awards indicate that we are heading in the right direction, but we still have to do more and better.  Your comments and criticisms help us to improve so that the museum becomes a space of more and more knowledge open to debate and participation.

[click on the images to enlarge]

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21st October 2010

Drawing as a protagonist

This Sunday, 24 October, the Museu Picasso will host the first Barcelona celebration of the “BIG DRAW Festival of Drawing”, an initiative that originated in London (and has since spread to a number of cities in the world) that sets out to get us all drawing and enjoying the process as a form of artistic expression and a tool of communication and learning.

I have to confess that I really don’t know how to draw, but very often I can’t explain what I mean other than by doodling with a pencil on paper. And my kids and I play at drawing: it’s a fun way to pass the time and — depending on age — to practice new vocabulary. Or to spark the imagination or capture and retain information, just as lots of adults do in meetings: almost automatic drawings that are also ways of concentrating. Read more »