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Tourist information Theme tourism Theme tourism: Picasso
Tourist information Theme tourism Theme tourism: Picasso
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With the inauguration of the Picasso Museum in 2003, Málaga joined the ranks of a select group of cities with a museum offer of the highest order. Parallel to the international recognition that this museum received, an unprecedented cultural turnabout occurred in Málaga that extended even to fields unrelated to culture. One might say that, aware that the world’s eyes were upon it, the city shook off its lethargy and devoted all its resources to insuring that the unquestioned lead role of the Picasso Museum would not be an isolated phenomenon but rather the focal point of a vast offer capable of satisfying a thousand and one demands, and that is what has happened. Antecedents
The idea of creating a museum in Málaga to house part of the works of its most internationally famous artist first arose several decades ago while Picasso was still alive. There was a meeting between his private secretary, Jaime Sabartés, and a number of Málaga intellectuals who were calling for this museum. Conditions were not right for the Picasso legacy to come to Málaga and its residents had to wait until 1992—a monumental date in Andalusia—for their first encounter with the work of the great artist, at the “Classic Picasso” exhibition. The endless lines beginning at the door of the Episcopal Palace, which had been expertly adapted as an exposition area for the occasion, made it plain that Picasso’s works could not remain much longer outside the city of his birth and this was amply confirmed two years later by a second Picasso exhibition: the “First Look” display (1994-1995), drawn from the private collection of the painter’s daughter-in-law, Christine Picasso. After earlier contacts with the government of Andalusia, she decided, in view of the public response to the exhibition, that the moment had come for Picasso to repay his debt to Málaga and for the city to do the same with respect to this great artist.
Exposition space: Buenavista Palace
First, however, a location had to be decided upon for the future museum, and after evaluating the historic buildings available for housing her collection Christine Picasso unhesitatingly gave her answer: the Condes de Buenavista Palace, a stately sixteenth century Renaissance building in the heart of the historical district that had previously been the site of the Provincial Fine Arts Museum.
La rehabilitación del Palacio de Buenavista ha sido, en palabras de los expertos en la materia, modélica, y sus artífices no han tardado en recibir un reconocimiento internacional por este trabajo. Pero no hace falta ser un experto en arquitectura museística para percatarse de la excelencia de la remodelación efectuada en el interior del edificio, al que se le han anexionado algunas construcciones contiguas para ganar espacio. El tránsito de las estancias del antiguo palacio a las de nueva construcción se realiza no ya sin brusquedad y sin premeditados saltos de estilo que podrían impactar al visitante, sino con la naturalidad que la propia obra expuesta requiere. La obra arquitectónica disimula a conciencia cualquier atrevimiento de líneas para dar realce a las poderosas creaciones de Picasso, de tal modo que no hay nada que perturbe el diálogo entre el espectador y la obra expuesta, ni incluso los magníficos artesonados mudéjares de algunas de las salas, que parecen haberse adaptado al lenguaje del pintor (¿o es al revés?) en una mutua complacencia.
The collection
The more than 200 works from the private holdings of Christine Picasso and her son Bernard that make up the museum’s permanent collection make possible a detailed review of almost every phase of the vast Picasso output, from the artist as a child to the final, surprising paintings in which the great master of the twentieth century seems to summarise in a few decisive lines his life experience and all his prodigious knowledge of the plastic arts as a legacy to generations to come.
The collection is made up of paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and engravings, but since it is the paintings that most attract the attention of the general public a number deserve special mention, either because they have been reproduced countless times in books and magazines or because they exude such magnetism that it is impossible not to feel their influence: Olga Koklova with mantilla, (Barcelona, 1917), Jacqueline seated (Paris, 1954), Bather (Mougins, 1971), Woman with raised arms (1936), Bust of a woman with arms crossed behind her head (Royan, 1939), Portrait with white cap (Paris, 1923), Head of a woman number 2. Portrait of Dora Maar (1939), Woman seated in an armchair (1946), Man, woman and child (Mougins, 1972), Portrait of Jacqueline with gorget (1962) and Woman standing (sculpture in glazed clay, 1947) are just a few of these creations that will attract and retain the viewer’s interest.
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Costa del Sol Tourist Board – Plaza del Siglo, nº 2. 29015 Málaga Tel:+34952126272 Fax:+34952225207 info@costadelsol.travel
