Pablo Picasso’s former holiday house in France becomes museum

PanARMENIAN.Net - Spanish artist Pablo Picasso’s former holiday home in the southern French town Antibes is now a museum dedicated solely to his work, and it is the town’s main tourist attraction, CCTV reported.

In 1946, Picasso, then 38, went to the South of France with his wife Françoise Gillet to holiday, paint and find inspiration by the sea, and he found this holiday home— the Château Grimaldi, a castle in the Mediterranean town.

Influenced by the landscape and the architecture, Picasso painted large scale works that are on show at the castle, which is now known as Picasso Museum.

Inside the museum, Picasso’s former workshop displays sculptures, ceramics and paintings inspired by his time there.

Inaugurated in 1966, the castle became the world's first Picasso museum. Picasso's second wife Jacqueline donated further pieces to the collection. The museum is the town's biggest draw, with more than 130,000 visiting the museum last year.

"What is really interesting in this Picasso's collection we have here is the fact that there is a unity of the place and (artist's) work, because we see the work in the place of its creation. That is very valuable, because one can see what Picasso captured from Antibes and the Mediterranean," Picasso Museum Head of Service Laure Lanteri said.

The buildings have changed a little from Picasso's time in the town, but the beauty of the sea and landscape of a bygone time have not been forgotten; they live on within the artworks.