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The Museo Picasso Málaga is a museum in
Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
,
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, the city where artist
Pablo Ruiz Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
was born.The Collection: History
, Museo Picasso Málaga. Accessed online 2010-01-16.
It opened in 2003 in the Buenavista Palace, and has 285 works donated by members of Picasso's family. In 2009, the Fundación Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso that owned the collection merged with the Fundación Museo Picasso Málaga that operated the museum, which is based in the home on Málaga's Plaza de la Merced that was Picasso's birthplace, and is now the Museo Casa Natal ("Birthplace Museum").To know the Foundation
, Fundación Picasso, official site. Accessed online 2010-01-16.
The new merged foundation is the "Fundación Museo Picasso Málaga. Legado Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso" ("Museo Picasso Málaga Foundation. The Paul, Christine and Bernard Ruiz Picasso Legacy").


Founding and collection

The idea of a Picasso museum in the city of the artist's birth was first seriously discussed in 1953, during the Franco era. The artist was in touch with Juan Temboury Álvarez, the Provincial Delegate for Fine Arts in Málaga, and this very building was discussed as a possible site but nothing came of it. Christine Ruiz-Picasso, widow of the artist's eldest son Paulo Ruiz-Picasso, worked with Málaga to help put on the exhibitions Picasso Clásico ("Classic Picasso") in 1992 and Picasso, primera mirada, ("Picasso, the first glimpse") in 1994. This led in 1996 to rekindling the idea of a major Picasso museum in Málaga. The museum opened 17 October 2003, with the king and queen of Spain in attendance. Christine Ruiz-Picasso donated 14 paintings, 9 sculptures, 44 individual drawings, a sketchbook with a further 36 drawings, 58 engravings, and 7 ceramic pieces, 133 works in all. Her son, Picasso's grandson,
Bernard Ruiz-Picasso Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (born 3 September 1959) is a businessman and art collector. He is the grandson of Pablo Picasso and the son of Paul and Christine Ruiz-Picasso. He curates international exhibitions dedicated to Pablo Picasso. Biography Be ...
donated another 5 paintings, 2 drawings, 10 engravings, and 5 ceramics, for an overall total of 155 works. The collection ranges from early academic studies to
cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
to his late re-workings of
Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
. Many additional pieces are on long-term loan to the museum. There is also a library and archive including over 800 titles on Picasso, as well as relevant documents and photographs.


The building

The Buenavista Palace ( es, Palacio de Buenavista) was originally built in the first half of the 16th centurySources disagree on precise dates. For example, Remedios García Rodríguez
Pasear por el centro de Málaga (2ª parte)
Homines.com, portal of the Centro del Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, 2008-09-06, accessed online 2010-01-17, says "1530–1540".

''Diario Sur'', 2007-08-02, accessed online 2010-01-17, says the first quarter of the 16th century.

, europeforvisitors.com, accessed online 2010-01-17, says "built between 1516 and 1542 by Jewish converts". Those same dates are given by Javier Caballero
La 'nueva casa' del maestro
''El Mundo'', 2003-10-04, reproduced on the site of the Online Picasso Project, accessed online 2010-01-18.
''See the notes to Buenavista Palace (Málaga) for a more exhaustive list of sources on this topic.''
for Diego de Cazalla,Palacio Condes de Buenavista
www.ISOCanda.org, 1998, reproduced on picasso.tamu.edu (the Online Picasso Project). Accessed online 2010-01-16.

Museo Picasso Málaga. Accessed online 2010-01-16.
over the remains of a
Nasrid The Nasrid dynasty ( ar, بنو نصر ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; Spanish: ''Nazarí'') was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, ruling the Emirate of Granada from 1230 until 1492. Its members claimed to be of Arab ...
palace of which some elements still survive. It was declared a
National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spe ...
in 1939 and housed a previous fine arts museum 1961–1997, when it was acquired with the intention of converting it into the present museum. Adjoining buildings were adapted and built before the 2003 opening. Besides the palace itself, the museum incorporates 18 houses from the old ''judería'' ( Jewish quarter). Taken as a whole—both the palace and other buildings—the museum has of of floor space. The museum makes major use of natural light, especially through
skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...
s.Francisco Ramírez Viu, "El Museo Picasso en Málaga", ''Boletín Hispania Nostra''
Number 87, October 2007
, p. 9-12 (p. 8-11 of PDF). Accessed online 2010-01-18.


Conversion of the building

The conversion of the building for the Museo Picasso was a major undertaking, led by the
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
architect Richard Gluckman,Presentación del libro Arquitectura del Museo Picasso Málaga. Desde el siglo VI a.C. hasta el siglo XXI, patrocinado por Ferrovial
, Museo Picasso Málaga, press release 2005-28-01. Accessed online 2010-01-17.
along with Isabel Cámara and Rafael Martín Delgado.Gonzalo Zanza/Pedro Corral

''ABC'' (Madrid) 1999-11-06. Article begins on p. 31, link is to p. 33, which has the relevant passage.
Gluckman was something of a known quantity in Málaga, having previously successfully remodeled the city's Episcopal Palace as an exhibition space. The project was budgeted at over 2,000 million pesetas, about US$20 million. The start of the project was delayed three months to get permission from the city for the existing buildings that would be demolished. Gluckman originally considered a simple rehabilitation of the palace, but soon decided on a different course.Pablo Ferrand
Cultura no puede edificar en el jardín para ampliar el Museo de Bellas Artes
''ABC Valencia'', 2003-12-21. Accessed online 2010-01-17. The article is mainly about a proposed enlargement of the Museo de Bellas Artes in
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
. The original of the quoted phrase from María Salinas Ruiz is ''"sus maravillosos espacios, su suelo, sus recovecos y sus fuentes"''.
The palace itself would not be big enough for the contemplated museum, and they went about acquiring adjacent buildings and land, and getting permission to incorporate or destroy various existing buildings. An initial plan was presented in July 1998; it was later expanded to include more space for a library/documentation center, an auditorium, and an educational department. The result was a decision to incorporate and refurbish several nearby historic buildings that were in disrepair. The ultimate design placed the modern buildings for offices and the new auditorium in and among a set of restored 18th and 19th century buildings.Isabel Cámara Guezala and Rafael Martín Delgado
El encuentro del pasado y el futuro
''Diario Sur'' Digital. Part of th
Canal Picasso
series. Accessed online 2010-01-18.
The excavations for the work led to remarkable discoveries: remnants of a city wall and towers dating back to the
Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...
, of a
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
factory to produce the fish-based sauce ''
garum Garum is a fermented fish sauce that was used as a condiment in the cuisines of Phoenicia, ancient Greece, Rome, Carthage and later Byzantium. Liquamen is a similar preparation, and at times they were synonymous. Although garum enjoyed its gre ...
'', and also of the earlier Nasrid palace on the same site. As a result, the basement is effectively an
archeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
museum in its own right,Simon Baskett, John Fisher, ''The rough guide to Spain'', Rough Guides, 2004. . p. 464-465. visible from above through transparent panels in the floor.Museo Picasso - Málaga
''Diario Sur'' Digital. Part of th
Canal Picasso
series. Accessed online 2010-01-18.
Many of the most difficult aspects of the conversion are precisely the ones that cannot be seen by the casual visitor. A purpose-built museum can take considerations of temperature, humidity, and cleanliness of air into account from the start of the design. When working with a 450-year-old palace, matters are not so simple, and are even more complex when one is resolved to change the ambience of the rooms—especially the exhibition halls—as little as possible. In particular ductwork must be well hidden, but running through the walls is also a very complicated matter, because one must not weaken the building's structure. This problem was solved in part through making air conditioning vents out of white marble slabs with pseudo-Mudéjar design elements, integrated into the walls. Similar techniques were applied to lighting considerations: modern technology in ancient disguise. In This approach of mixing the modern and the historical was put particularly to the test in March 2002, when a fire broke out, damaging three of the halls destined to be exhibition spaces. The damaged 16th century coffered ceilings were recreated by the Madrid-based Taujel company, combining traditional craftsmanship with computer design techniques. Gluckman's firm received a 2005 Design Award from the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...
for the project. Still, historian María Salinas Ruiz of Málaga was not at all pleased by the undertaking, criticizing the sacrifice of two houses with listed historical status and the major modifications to the palace itself, destroying "its marvelous spaces, its flooring, its winding passages and its fountains" that took such advantage of the light at different times of day. Others have spoken of how well the resulting galleries display Picasso's work.


Picasso and the Calle San Agustín

The Museo Picasso Málaga is only from the Plaza de la Merced, where Picasso was born, and is located in the Calle San Agustín, to which Picasso and his family had no small connection. Although he moved away from Málaga at the age of 10, Picasso went to
nursery school A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary schoo ...
on that street, and his father José Ruiz Picasso was
curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
of the city museum in the old town hall, also on that street. That museum had an excellent collection of the city's main artists, but for budgetary reasons was seldom open to the public. Because of the same budgetary issues, part of the elder Picasso's compensation was space for his own painting studio, where the younger Picasso did some of his first artwork.Places in Malaga associated with Picasso
, Fundación Picasso. Accessed online 2010-01-17.
Furthermore, from the windows of the new staircases added for the museum, one can see the tower of the church of Santiago, where Picasso was baptized.


See also

* Fundación Picasso, which operates a second, smaller Picasso museum in Málaga * List of museums in Spain *
List of single-artist museums This is a list of single-artist museums, which are museums displaying the work of, or bearing the name of, a single visual artist. * Basuki Abdullah – Basoeki Abdullah Museum, Jakarta, Indonesia * Affandi – Affandi Museum, Yogyakarta, Indones ...
*
Musée Picasso :''This article refers to the museum in Paris. There are a number of other Picasso museums.'' The Musée Picasso ( en, Picasso Museum) is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé ( en, Salé Hall) in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district ...
(Paris) *
Museu Picasso The Museu Picasso (, "Picasso Museum") is an art museum in Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It houses an extensive collection of artworks by the twentieth-century Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, with a total of 4251 of his works. It is housed in f ...
(Barcelona)


Notes


External links

*
Museo Picasso
official site. Includes images of most pieces in the collection *
Canal Picasso
a very comprehensive series of articles about Picasso and the museum from ''Diario Sur'' Digital. {{authority control
Museo Picasso Málaga The Museo Picasso Málaga is a museum in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, the city where artist Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born.Modern art museums in Spain Art museums established in 2003
Museo Picasso Málaga The Museo Picasso Málaga is a museum in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, the city where artist Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born.Museums in Málaga Biographical museums in Spain Museums devoted to one artist