laurie_ann

The newly reopened Picasso Museum was at the top of our list on our visit to Paris last week. Thought I would share a few lessons learned.

We had always ranked the previous incarnation of this museum at the top of our list of world museums for its integration of the art and the explanation of the artist's life, symbolic meaning of subjects and other features like no other museum we had been to.

The newly renovated and reopened museum took 5 years, opened the space apparently double or triple the previous and totally reorganized the presentation.

The critics have not entire approved.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/ar...aris.html?_r=0

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...so-Museum.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/ar...aris-1.1982142

But we decided to have an open mind.

The space is lovely, open, lightfilled even on a gloomy November day.

But you should know if you enjoyed the previous incarnation that the new version is completely different. Not arranged chronologically. Without any labeling except the name of the piece and date and media of composition. So the entire "context" aspect of presentation has been almost entirely removed.

We had advance purchase timed tickets for the first time of the day (1130 am). I would not go without them. At the beginning of the day at least before the doors to the courtyard open you form one line around the corned and down the block, whether you have advance purchase tickets or not. Once the courtyard opens the line files in with one waiting area for those who already have timed tickets and another for those who don't.

We did not have advance purchase audio guides. That was a big mistake. At least the day we were there audio guides were available only for those who had advance purchase of them. You could not walk up, pay and take one. Maybe because the museum is new, only open one month, and they don't have enough yet for anyone who wants one. Don't know. There is a little booklet available for free near the front door that does provide some explanation and context. So don't miss grabbing one of those if you don't get an audio guide.

There is also an app for your smart phone you can purchase. I think $2.99 (maybe euro 2.99) but we found he English language version dreadful. It seems to me a mechanical translation of something French with very large vocabulary words and just not that interesting or helpful as a result. So I would skip that.

And it was rather crowded. Maybe not like the Louvre or D'Orsay (don't know as we didn't visit either this trip). The individual rooms are mostly small. A little too crowded for my enjoyment. It was the American holiday of Thanksgiving (a Thursday) and we did see some Americans but not that many that would explain the crowds on such a weekday. Most were French, German, Italian, Spanish and I think South American.

But, overall it was great to see the new version, not the same as the old version, and with a few "growing pains" for its reopening. But still absolutely worth the trip. Hope what we learned can help you.

annhig

thanks, laurie-ann.

great tips for those who might be considering this on their next trip to Paris.

i'm not a huge fan [the museum in Barcelona did not bowl me over] but i know that he is very popular. Perhaps when it's been open a while the crowds will diminish. Shame that the rooms are so small though.

do you know which site you used to purchase the tickets in advance?

laurie_ann

I liked the previous version of museum not so much because I am a huge Picasso fan but because the way it was curated with the different art pieces and descriptions of where he was in his life, the meaning of symbolism in the works, etc. It was probably controversial with critics too in that many believe the art is the art and the rest is not relevant. But I found it highly enlightening.

I purchased the tickets directly from the museum website.

www.museepicassoparis.fr/en (if you need English language).

I just checked the page again and there is a link in the upper left corner of that page that says something like "booking available now" that you click on.

Then if you want the audio guide you would need to choose the second version of a ticket (the one that includes both admission and the "multimedia guide" and that costs euro 15). Because the second choice is further down the page I probably didn't realize there even was a second choice when I booked my tickets.

annhig

it's the sort of thing that often makes me wish I could go a second time, but make it my first, if you know what I mean, L-A. Why do the designers of websites have to make finding things such a fag? mind you, I just pad to pay a cheque for a parking fine [i know.....] and discovering who to make it payable too was a nightmare. i finally found it in the smallest type imaginable!

sandralist

Picasso is having quite a moment, with important exhibits also in Florence and NYC in addition to the newly reopened musee. For Picasso fans, these articles discuss what's happening now

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/arch...so/?insrc=hpss

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog...ce/?insrc=hpbl

waldrons

My experience was very similar to Laurie-Ann's. You really need to understand the works before you go, as there is basically no educational component to the display. The phone app is only for iPhones, not Android. The audio guide was giving some people fits, and I saw a few just give up on it. The little booklet was apparently printed before they made some changes to the exhibit, as it will mention that 2 works are representative of the same theme (and the rooms are supposed to be grouped around themes), but it turns out that the works mentioned are not necessarily displayed in the same room. (In one case, the second work was on a different floor!) The booklet also starts on a different floor than the signs direct you on your visit. The whole thing was so frustrating that I just bailed after an hour or so.

danon

thank for posting....
I had been to the "old " museum twice...liked it very much.
Barcelona Picasso museum is not particularly good ! IM O.

Christina

I've been to several of them, not because I'm a big Picasso fan (I"m not, although I understand how he changed the art style at that time), but just because they were of major interest in places I was staying. There are museums all over, I've been to at least 3 (Barcelona, Paris and Antibes) and then there are bigger museums that have a lot of his work, anyway.

I most liked his work in other museums, actually, such as in Madrid (Guernica). Too much Picasso is just too much of a good thing for me, I'm actually not that crazy about any museum devoted to just one artist, although most have plenty of other artists' work in them (I do like the Maillol in Paris).

I'm sure crowds will die down, it's just new, that's all. There weren't that many crowds at the old one, after all and he didn't paint new things.

Ronda

I realize this was written last December. We will be in Paris in October and plan to buy a museum pass. It is covered by the museum pass so do we still need to reserve ahead ?

manouche

Ronda - I answered this on your other thread. The MP DOES cover the Picasso Museum, though this was not true initially. It was included in the MP after April 2015.

If you use the Museum Pass, you do not reserve ahead, you just stand in line. If you want to go at a certain time, go to the Official Website of the Picasso Museum and purchase timed-entry tickets - print the vouchers at home and bring them with you (they serve as tickets). There is a designated line for timed-ticket holders when you arrive.