12 Feb 2018
Picasso family member plans new museum to house thousands of works by famous artist
BY Tom Anstey
The stepdaughter of Pablo Picasso has announced plans to open a museum in the South of France dedicated to the famed artist.
Expected to open in 2021, the new museum will feature more than 2,000 works by Picasso inherited by Catherine Hutin-Blay, the only daughter of the artist’s second wife Jacqueline Roque.
According to The Art Newspaper, Hutin-Blay’s company, Madame Z, recently purchased a former convent to house the museum in Aix-en-Provence, for a reported fee of €11.5m (US$14m, £10.1m) in December.
Boasting an auditorium, 10,000sq ft (929sq m) of space to host the permanent collection and an additional 5,000sq ft (464.5sq m) for temporary exhibitions, the building is near the burial place of Picasso and Jacqueline, in an area they lived their final years. According to a local council document, the museum will also host a Picasso research centre and public pottery and etching workshops.
“The foundation has committed to completing the museum and all related work within three years, starting from the day the necessary permits are granted for the project to begin,” said a statement from the city of Aix-en-Provence.
Including more than 1,000 paintings and 1,000 works done in other mediums, the Picasso treasure trove is expected to draw as many as 500,000 visitors a year. Aix-en-Provence will join the likes of Barcelona, Malaga and Paris, which all host museums dedicated to the artist.
Ahead of the museum’s opening in 2021, a selection of the Hutin-Blay collection is scheduled to go on display at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany, with many of the pieces having their first outings on public display.
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