Museu Picasso, Barcelona

Museu Picasso is an art museum devoted to Pablo Picasso, set within five adjoining medieval palaces on Montcada Street. Its collection contains 4,251 works by the artist and is especially valuable for understanding his formative years, with an exceptionally rich group of works from his youth. The museum opened to the public on 9 March 1963, becoming the earliest museum dedicated to Picasso and the only one established during his lifetime.

Its beginnings came from Jaume Sabartés, Picasso’s friend and secretary, who proposed creating the institution; Picasso directed him toward Barcelona because of his enduring connection with the city. Among the collection’s notable works are The First Communion from 1896 and Science and Charity from 1897. The surrounding palaces date from the 13th and 14th centuries, and their interiors follow a shared arrangement around courtyards with open stairways leading to the principal floors. The result is a museum where Picasso’s early development unfolds inside historic civic architecture.