To visit the museum, you’ll travel to Antibes, France. Nestled on the Mediterranean Cape Garoup between star-studded Nice and Cannes is cosy little Antibes. A fortified harbour town, its old stone quarters are lined with manicured park oases, luxury villas and promenades.
In Chateau Grimaldi you can visit the Pablo Picasso Museum, one of Antibes’ most famous attractions. Picasso lived in the Antibes-Juan-les-Pins area for most of his life, and for a few months after the Second World War he had a studio in Château Grimaldi.
The château served as a residence for bishops back in the Middle Ages (from 442 to 1385), then home to a famous Monegasque family who gave it its name: Château Grimaldi. Then a stronghold of the King’s governor, it became a town hall in 1792 and eventually a barracks in 1820. In 1923 Romual Dor de la Soucher began his archaeological fieldwork in Antibes, and in 1924 he founded the society Friends of the Antifa Museum, whose aim was to create a Museum of History and Archaeology, and worked to give the region’s past some prominence. In 1925 the chateau was bought by the town of Antibes and became the Grimaldi Museum, its first curator being Romual Dor de la Soucher himself. It became a historic monument on 28 August 1928.
It was next door to the villa Picasso rented in the Bay of Juan with his young companion Françoise Gilot that he first came to the Château Grimaldi in Antibes in September 1946. Seeing that the place fascinates the twentieth-century genius, Romual Dor de la Soucher offers him to set up a workshop in a room at the top of the tower. Delighted, Picasso immediately sets to work, beginning to paint three faun heads on the white walls, which he named “The Keys of Antibes”. In just two months, the Andalusian master would create more than 23 paintings and 44 drawings here, including his masterpiece “Joy of Life”, a giant bacchanalia on the seashore or “Nude Seated on a Green Background” and “Woman with Sea Hedgehogs”.
Officially named the “Picasso Museum”, Chateau Grimaldi now houses 275 works by the artist, including numerous ceramic pieces. In addition to about 50 works by Picasso (particularly “minor” compared to his most famous but fascinating works), the museum also has a good collection of works by other popular mid-twentieth-century modern artists such as Juan Miró and Max Ernst. On 26 December 1966, in honour of Picasso, the Chateau Grimaldi officially became the Musée Picasso, the first ever museum dedicated to the artist.
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