Musée Picasso, Antibes, France

The Musée Picasso, formerly the Château Grimaldi at Antibes, is built upon the foundations of the ancient Greek town of Antipolis. The castle was a residence of the bishops in the Middle Ages (from 442 to 1385). The castle was moved in 1385 to the Monegasque family. In 1608 it became a stronghold of the Grimaldi family and has borne their name ever since. In 1702 it became the town hall of Antibes.

From 1925 the chateau was known as the Grimaldi Museum. In 1946 it was the home for six months of the artist Pablo Picasso. Today the museum is known as the Picasso Museum, the first museum in the world to be dedicated to the artist.

Picasso himself donated works to the museum, most notably his paintings 'The Goat' and 'La Joie de Vivre'. In 1990 Jacqueline Picasso bequested many works by Picasso to the museum. These included 4 paintings, 10 drawings, 2 ceramics and 6 etchings. These are displayed at the Château in addition to the 3 works on paper, 60 etchings and 6 carpets by Pablo Picasso which the museum collected between 1952 and 2001. Today the collection totals 245 works by Picasso.

User Reviews

Maria (38 days ago)
Interesting art displayed from Picasso and other artists. The cutest cat was welcoming on entry. Blue skies and the art pieces outside were cool. Nice to wander the castle and pick up some souvenirs. Lovely plate display

Cleo Li (2 months ago)
Highly recommend if you love the master’s work or art in general! I’d soak in there all day if there are cafes or food vendors and seating areas inside. The location of the museum is amazing.

Liang Huang (2 months ago)
We are extremely lucky to see the Miro exhibit (extended through January 2025). The museum is not big but charming in its own way. I love the little courtyard/sculpture garden just by the sea.

아티스트아방 (3 months ago)
It was nice to see a lot of Picasso's drawings. No need to book tickets in advance, the line was reasonable, inside of museum was comfortable, and it wasn't too crowded.

Inna Grigorieva (5 months ago)
It was interesting museum in the amazing historical building in front of the sea. The work of Picasso was only on the 2nd floor and you could see just the pieces which he made by himself in this building… so here you won’t see him greatest arts. But it was well organised and pleasure to see the beautiful part of this life.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Zvonimir Hrvoj

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