For now it isHotel Salè, an elegant nineteenth-century style building located in the Marais, artistic district in the heart of Paris. But in 2014 it will be known all over the world as “the” great Picasso Museum, the richest and most prestigious of the many dedicated to the Spanish artist of the turn of the century.
This at least according to the typical intentions of the French "grandeur" obsessions, which however in the meantime kept the project on hold for two years due to administrative problems. Alone last September the official go-ahead for the project, which foresees a real revolution of the space and of the cultural offer.
However, transalpine megalomania aside, the contents of the future museum will be respectable, thanks to the generous donation made in 1973 by Picasso's heirs and by Jacqueline Picasso herself, last wife of the master of Cubism: over 5 works and 200 repertoire pieces attributable to him.
The former site of the museum, established in 1985, was now too small, and in the face of half a million visitors a year it had also become outlawed with respect to safety regulations. But the real goal is to give space to all of Picasso's immense heritage, renovating the entire area surrounding (and below) the Hotel Salè far and wide.
In 3 years, the surface according to the project will triple (6300 m²) and will be able to accommodate both the permanent exhibition, favored by foreign tourists, and temporary exhibitions, loudly requested by the local public.
In short, there will be something for everyone. But at what price? The project is still in the study phase, a competition is underway to outsource everything to international architects. However, it is already known that the the total cost of the operation is 54 million euros, of which only 28,5 million to renovate the Hotel Salè.
The State finances the investment for 19 millioni.e. one third. And the rest? Through a gimmick of the director, Anne Baldassari, who for several years now has been sending the museum's works around the world. A Itinerant and “turnkey” Picasso: shipping costs only (obviously paid by the recipients) e the exhibition is "rented". Since 2008, poor Pablo has come a long way: from Spain to Japan, via the USA, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Finland and Australia.
Practically, in the year of the opening, 2014, the exhibition will have already been seen in "preview" by 6 million people all over the world! And what do the French think about it? Aren't they jealous? No, according to the Figaro poll 90% of them agree with this initiative: the end justifies the means, and thanks to that money they will have the largest Picasso Museum in the world.
Read the news on Le Figaro
