No visit to Barcelona would be complete without going to the Picasso Museum. Here you will find Pablo Picasso’s paintings arranged in a chronological sequence that will give you a revealing insight into how this extraordinary artist developed through the years.
This museum has the largest collection of art by Picasso, and is accommodated in five adjacent medieval palaces. The idea of a museum came from Picasso’s lifelong friend, Jaume Sabartés, who wanted to establish it in Picasso’s birthplace of Málaga, but it was Picasso himself who suggested Barcelona because of his affection and long association for the city.
The museum opened in 1963 with a donation of 574 paintings, drawings and prints from Sabartés, which Picasso had given him over the years, as well as items that had been previously displayed in other museums in Barcelona, and gifts from other collectors and friends of Picasso. After Sabartés died in 1968, Picasso himself gave the museum about 1000 items, including many of his early works, and paintings from his Blue Period. Visitors to the museum today can enjoy more than 3,500 works that are permanently on display.
