Pablo Picasso once said, “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.”
That wager has been frustrated in Paris for five years due to repeated delays, infighting and controversy. The renovation of one of the world’s largest collections of one of the 20th century’s most prolific and influential artists which should have been completed long ago will finally see the light of day.
The long-awaited reopening, which has already been pushed back twice already in the past 12 months, is finally ready for unveiling on the October 25, the birthday of the legendary Spanish artist. He was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain, and spent most of his adult life in France before his death in 1973.
The opening of the museum, home to over-5,000 art pieces including collections of paintings, sculptures and prints, as well as Picasso’s personal archives, will put an end to the turbulent period in the city’s cultural scene.
Anne Baldassari, who served as the museum’s president for nine years, was fired from her post in May following a public squabble with her staff and France’s ex-culture minister Aurelie Filippetti. The culture minister was also dismissed from the government in August.
The war of words even embroiled Picasso’s son, 66-year-old Claude Picasso, who had supported Baldassari and told Le Figaro newspaper in May that “France is making a mockery of my father”.
Even neighbors in the chic Marais district became involved in the conflict as they started speaking up against the new ‘cubist’ metal pergola in the garden that they said obscured the facade of the 17th century mansion.
The renovation, which cost an estimated 52 million Euros ($66 million), has made the museum more accessible to visitors. They have nearly tripled the museum’s public space to around 58,000 square feet as they have moved staff offices to a newly purchased building. The expansion project, whose budget doubled, was supposed to be completed in two years when it began in 2009. But as it grew in scope and size, reopening dates were announced and delayed several times.
In replacing Baldassari in June with Laurent Le Bon, who had directed the Centre Pompidou-Metz since 2010, Filippetti said the new president possessed “all the qualities required to make the opening of the Musee Picasso the party awaited by all the French”.
As the art world awaits the party, the museum’s cobblestone courtyard will be open on October 4 for the annual Nuit Blanche, one night of nocturnal art happenings in Paris, with a light show on the elegant facade.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2014.
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