PARIS: The Picasso Museum in Paris, which houses the world’s biggest collection of the Spanish artist’s works, is reopening on Tuesday with an overhauled display and a first-ever tribute to his ex-partner, the renowned painter Francoise Gilot.

The new permanent collection will present a fresh selection of 400 works by Pablo Picasso across the museum’s 22 rooms. They have been drawn from some 200,000 items stored in its archives, which include a large proportion of the 2,000 paintings and more than 11,000 drawings he completed during his lifetime.

All the key periods are represented — from blue, pink and cubist to surrealist, collage and ceramics. The museum boasts that it is the only institution that can trace Picasso’s development from the very beginning up to his death in 1973.

A section called “Laboratory” highlights Picasso’s countless sculptures — made from cardboard, metal, wood, cigar boxes and whatever else came to hand — together with related drawings and paintings.

Another focuses on his work during World War II and the Nazi occupation of Paris, including the sculpture “Man with a Sheep”, which became a symbol of resistance.

One room has been entirely dedicated to Gilot, who died in June 2023 at the age of 101. She lived with Picasso for a decade up to 1953 and had two children with him.

Gilot is seen as the one long-term partner who managed to stand up to his often tyrannical behaviour towards women, establishing herself as an artist in her own right.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2024