Museo Casa Natal Picasso

The Museo Casa Natal Picasso occupies a 19th-century residential building on the Plaza de la Merced in the Centro Histórico of Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born on the second floor on 25 October 1881, and his family lived in the building until 1883. The square was a middle-class neighbourhood at the time, and the apartment was rented by Picasso's father, José Ruiz Blasco, a painter and drawing teacher. The house became a foundation seat in the 1980s, and the Fundación Picasso Museo Casa Natal now operates the museum, which opened in its current form in 1988 and was reorganised in later renovations. The building keeps the character of a 19th-century bourgeois home, with reconstructed rooms furnished in period style and items belonging to the Ruiz Picasso family, including furniture, photographs and personal objects. The permanent exhibition on the second floor tells the story of Picasso's family and childhood, and the first floor holds temporary exhibitions. The collection includes works on paper, ceramics, books and engravings, as well as documents relating to the artist's family. The approach is mostly biographical and chronological, tracing the early life of the artist and his family's ties to Málaga, supported by video and text panels in Spanish and English. The foundation also holds a library and archive specialising in Picasso and 20th-century art. The plaza outside has a bench-side statue of Picasso, popular for photos. Preservation is good, and the building has been maintained as a cultural centre. The museum is smaller than the Museo Picasso Málaga and is usually seen in 30 to 45 minutes.