Museo Picasso Málaga

In front of you is the Palace of the Counts of Buenavista, a noble house built around 1530 by Diego de Cazalla, a city councillor, half a century after the Castilian conquest. Look at its lookout tower: for centuries this was one of the most imposing civic buildings in Málaga.

1An idea from 1953

Picasso was born in Málaga in 1881 and left as a boy, at the age of ten. In 1953 Juan Temboury, head of Fine Arts for the province, wrote asking him for works, and the painter said he was willing to send them. The project went nowhere: the regime's authorities would not accept it, and Picasso, in exile and committed to the Republic, never returned to Spain.

2Half a century later

The idea was revived by Christine Ruiz-Picasso, widow of his eldest son, Paulo. Together with her son Bernard she donated more than 150 works, and the museum opened on 27 October 2003 in the presence of the King and Queen. The collection spans the artist's whole career, from his first academic studies to his last paintings of the 1970s.

The museum's basement preserves remains of the Phoenician wall of Malaka and of Roman structures, found during the building work.

The renovation joined the palace to new buildings, separated by a glass-roofed slit of light that holds the staircase.

3What to look for

• The Renaissance doorway, with its iron balcony.
• The lookout tower, visible from Calle Alcazabilla.
• The contrast between the old stone blocks and the white façades of the extension.