HÔTEL Salé is situated in one of the oldest, and today very prestigious and costly, quarters in central Paris known as Le Marais. It was built in the mid 17th century as personal abode for Pierre Aubert, the royal salt-tax collector for King Henri IV. Aubert would have preferred his residence to go down in history bearing his own name, but in popular culture the building forever remained linked with his unpopular job, as in French salé means ‘salted’.

On the other hand, Pablo Picasso was an indefatigable worker as well as a collector of art. He once famously said, “I possess the world’s biggest collection of Picassos. Give me a museum and I’ll fill it in no time.” His wish was finally granted in 1985, 12 years following his death in 1973, when the French government decided to turn Hôtel Salé into the Picasso Museum.

The museum houses some 5,000 paintings and other works of art, more than half of these covering Picasso’s own sketches, canvases and sculptures, the rest masterpieces by legendary artists like Cézanne, Degas, Renoir, Rousseau, Seurat and Matisse among others. The project was an immediate success, attracting huge crowds every year.

Then in 2009 Hôtel Salé was suddenly closed down for major revamp work that should have normally taken two years to complete.

Today, five years later its doors still remain shut while bitter and often salty, if one might say so, arguments are regularly exchanged between the Picasso family, the culture ministry and the museum’s director. They blame each other for the expense of 53 million euros, well above the original estimate of 30m euros, and there’s no end in sight to the dispute for the moment.

Though most of the exhibits owned by the museum were donated by the Picasso family under a law allowing heirs to contribute paintings and sculptures instead of cash as tax payments, many of the masterpieces were later bought by raising special funds; to her credit, Anne Baldassari, the director of the museum, played an important role in these acquisitions.

But why had the museum to be shut down in the first place? Baldassari explains initially because repair work was needed to create access for handicapped visitors and to improve the air-conditioning system that was in a poor state at the time. Added to this was the theft in June 2009 of a Picasso sketchbook that has so far not been recovered. To avoid such recurrences, dozens of bulletproof windows costing 12,000 euros a piece are among the new security improvements.

But not everyone is convinced by these arguments; many suspect some kind of conspiracy is the real reason behind the unending delays. In an exclusive interview that appeared in Le Figaro last week the painter’s son Claude Picasso’s says “France doesn’t care a hoot about my father’s work.” He holds Culture Minister Aurélie Filipetti directly responsible for the muddle. Filipetti in her turn says it’s all the fault of Anne Baldassari.

All this while there have been a number of announcements for a reopening date. The latest is the one for mid-June but rumours are already rife the deadline is likely to be put off again until mid-September. Claude Picasso, who represents the family’s interests on the board of directors, appears pessimistic. He says in his interview he has an impression there is “no wish by the ministry to reopen the museum” and that he is being “messed around for nothing”.

But there is a brighter side to the story, though it would be advisable to take it with a grain of salt.

The museum’s director, who remains a highly controversial figure, insists it will be reopening soon and that it will be worth its while for art enthusiasts to have waited for five years.

The new Picasso Museum will have additional galleries, a bigger garden and twice the space for exhibits as all its offices are being moved to a neighbouring building specially bought for the purpose.

The newly acquired nearly 4,000-square-metre space will also be used to house many permanent galleries, a sizeable auditorium, a workshop for students and a roof garden. These transformations, say the officials, are expected to bring in close to a million visitors every year as compared with half that number until five years ago.

As for the overlong delay in restoration work, the museum officials explain the whole project had taken a new turn when Hôtel Salé was classified by the government three years ago as a historical monument. They say: “Stricter health and safety rules had to be observed and this included protection from accidental fire. Everyone seems to have forgotten that except, happily, the fire brigade!”

— The writer is a journalist based in Paris.

(ZafMasud@gmail.com)