Picasso was a Barcelona resident between 1895 and 1904, renting several locations throughout the city for studio space and dwellings in the early years of his career. Here he struck up a number of creative relationships, not least with the city itself, which he would come to visit many more times as his fame burgeoned. Most of Museo Picasso’s permanent collection was donated by the artist himself, which indicates his strong desire to leave a mark on the city that was once his home.

Given the dates of his residence in Barcelona, the collection rightfully focuses on Picasso’s early years, thus consisting largely of more conventional portraiture than his later oeuvre. So you won’t see Guernica, and perhaps nothing from his fascinating cubist period, but the earlier work showcases the remarkable conventional talents and primary mastership at root of his later experimentation, and gives a fascinating insight into the development of one of the 20th century’s most revered artists.