50 Years of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona: The Origins

Presented on occasion of the Museu Picasso's fiftieth anniversary, this documentary exhibition reveals one of the institution's identifying traits: its genesis. The show explains the connections between Picasso and Barcelona, the process that led to the museum's inception and its following opening.

The Museu Picasso in Barcelona is perhaps the most obvious sign of the artist's emotional ties to the city. Founded by express desire of Picasso, the museum concentrated the energies and desires of a whole community: the artist's personal secretary and great friend Jaume Sabartés, his wife Jacqueline, Barcelona society of the fifties that thought highly of Picasso, and Barcelona City Council, that managed to act with extreme discretion during the Franco regime in order to make Picasso's dream of a monographic museum in his beloved city come true. In order to tell the story through the documents, the exhibition is structured in three areas: Picasso's ties to Barcelona, the inception of the museum and its following foundation and opening.