Musee Picasso

The Musee Picasso has been closed for renovations for 5 years, and a lot of money.  The result is somewhat controversial.  We visited today and at least I was deeply disappointed.

Thank heavens lunch came first.  Magret du canard for moi, scallops and spinach for lui. 

And then we walked a few short blocks to meet Suzy at the Picasso. 

I had read various reviews of the visitor's experience, and knew that audio guides are in sort supply because the museum expects people to download their "free" audio guide app.  Sadly, the free part is about the history of the building and the collection, not the works themselves or the artist.  So I paid for and downloaded the basic audio guide.  I found it impossible to comprehend, but figured it would reveal itself when we got to the museum.

Once there, I finally figured out how to use it, and it promptly crashed.  I tried to reload it, but the wifi in the musuem, that is to say the museum's own wifi, is so feeble that my phone was "avoiding it due to poor conditions".  This, while other wifi in the neighborhood was coming in loud and clear.  Once I had some wifi nearer the lobby, I paid for and downloaded another paid guide that I thought would be better.  I got 35% downloaded before it crashed.

I gave up.

Meanwhile, we were struggling to figure out the museum floorplan, which is far from obvious. Even the written brochure is sometimes a mystery, since it skips whole parts of each floor, then lumps them together with the next floor for some obscure thematic reason.  So abandoning all logic, one finally just surrenders to go with the flow. 

I'm not one to photograph paintings much, since they lose so much in the translation, but sculptures are another matter.  And the building itself is lovely, with unusual lighting fixtures in the central stairway.   

 The maestro's chair. 

A littel girl skipping, but not very happily I think, since the draped object on the base is a snake.  

In the basement are a series of rooms called studios, apparently a reference to where the work in the rooms was done.  In one is a printing press and copper plates, showing that the artist had mastered yet another medium. 

After visiting the exhibition we enjoyed cake and coffees on the terrace, and watched the line form in the courtyard.