Picasso Museum – Antibes

Over the next  few weeks I’ll be sharing with you some images from the galleries that I visit during my European holiday.  Please forgive the fact that I haven’t attempted to edit most the photos in any way..

After leaving a very wintry Sydney with heaters turned up high, I arrived in Nice where it was 30° and so  humid I showered three times on the first day!

One of my favourite places in France is Nice,  and I had a fantastic apartment in place Massena which is so central to both the beach and the old section.

As well as visiting old family friends the highlight of my visit this time was a trip to Antibes, about 15  minutes from Nice, and in particular to the Picasso Museum.

Musee Picasso Antibes

According to Antibes– Juen-les-Pins, Musée Picasso is founded on the ancient acropolis of the Greek city of Antipolis, Roman castrum, which was the residence of the bishops in the Middle Ages (from 442 to 1385).

A castle was built on the site in 1385 by the Monegasque family who gave it its name of the Grimaldi castle. It later became the residence of the governor  and then the town hall from 1792. In 1820 it became a military barracks  before being established as a museum by Professor Romuald Dor de la Souchere in 1923.

Professor of French, Greek and Latin at Lycée Carnot in Cannes, Romuald Dor Souchère began his archaeological research in Antibes in 1923. In 1924, he created the Friends of the Museum of Antibes, in order to found a Historical and Archaeological Museum and to display the history  of the region.

In 1925, the Grimaldi castle was bought by the city of Antibes and became the Grimaldi museum, with Romuald Dor de la Souchère as its first curator.

According to this website, Picasso visited the Museum in September 1945 (just a few months after the end of the Second World War) and stayed until sometime in 1946 when  Dor de la Souchère offered him the use of part of the castle as a studio.

 

Pablo Picasso, Les clefs d’Antibes, 1946

Pablo Picasso, Nature Morte, 1946

Pablo Picasso, Nature Morte, 1946

Pablo Picasso, Nu cloche Au lit blanc, 1946

Pablo Picasso, Nature Morte Au competitor de fruits aux quarter ousins et a la bouteille 1946

Pablo Picasso, Nature Morte Au compotier, 1950

EPablo Picasso, Le Hibou a la chaise, 1947

Pablo Picasso, The Joy of Life, 1946

Picasso, enthusiastic, worked at the castle and created many works, drawings and paintings. Following his stay in 1946, Pablo Picasso left 23 paintings and 44 drawings in the city of Antibes.

 

September 22, 1947 saw the official inauguration of the Picasso room on the first floor, accompanied by a first hanging of the works of Antibes. On September 7, 1948, an exhibition was extended to include 78 ceramics made at the Madoura workshop in Vallauris. On September 13, 1949, on the occasion of the inauguration of the exhibition “French tapestries”, new rooms dedicated to Picasso’s paintings, ceramics and drawings were opened to the public.

And on December 27, 1966, the city of Antibes paid homage to Pablo Picasso and the Grimaldi castle  when it officially became the Picasso museum – the first museum dedicated to the artist. Finally, in 1991, the Jacqueline Picasso authorised extensions to the Picasso collection.

To my absolute delight I turned into a room of ceramics. Some years ago I bought pictures of these ceramics so it was fantastic to see two walls of these great works.

 

 

 

To finish with, just a few more photos of the gallery space and Antibes …

(You might also enjoy this article by the Guardian)