On the northern side of rue des Francs-Bourgeois, rue Payenne leads up to the lovely gardens and houses of rue du Parc-Royal and on to rue de Thorigny. Here, at no. 5, the magnificent classical facade of the seventeenth-century Hôtel Salé, built for a rich salt-tax collector, conceals the Musée Picasso (daily except Tues 9.30am–5.30pm; 8pm on Thurs; March & April until 5.30pm; €5.50, Sun €4; M° Chemin Vert or St-Paul). It's the largest collection of Picassos anywhere, representing almost all the major periods of the artist's life from 1905 onwards. Many of the works were owned by Picasso and on his death in 1973 were seized by the state in lieu of taxes owed. The result is an unedited body of work, which, although not among the most recognizable of Picasso's masterpieces, nevertheless provides a sense of the artist's development and an insight into the person behind the myth. In addition, the collection includes paintings Picasso bought or was given by contemporaries such as Matisse and Cézanne; his African masks and sculptures; his Communist party membership cards and sketches of Stalin; and photographs of him in his studio taken by Brassaï.The exhibition unfolds chronologically, starting with the artist's blue period, studies for the Demoiselles d'Avignon, and his experiments with Cubism and Surrealism. It then moves on to his larger-scale works on themes of war and peace (eg, Massacre in Korea, 1951) and his later preoccupations with love and death, reflected in his Minotaur and bullfighting paintings. Perhaps some of the most engaging works, though, are his more personal ones – those of his children, wives and lovers – such as Olga pensive (1923), in which his first wife is shown lost in thought, the deep blue of her dress reflecting her mood. The breakdown of their marriage was probably behind the Surrealist-influenced Femme dans le Fauteuil Rouge (room 7): the violent clash of colours and the woman's grotesquely deformed body tell of acute distress. Two portraits of later lovers, Dora Maar and Marie-Thérèse (both painted in 1937), exhibited side by side in room 13, show how the two women inspired Picasso in very different ways: they strike the same pose, but Dora Maar is painted with strong lines and vibrant colours, suggesting a passionate, vivacious personality, while Marie-Thérèse's muted colours and soft contours convey serenity and peace. The museum also holds a substantial number of Picasso's engravings, ceramics and sculpture, reflecting the remarkable ease with which the artist moved from one medium to another. Some of the most arresting sculptures (room 17) are those he created from recycled household objects, such as the endearing La Chèvre (Goat), whose stomach is made from a basket, and the Tête de taureau, an ingenious pairing of a bicycle seat and handlebars. Another striking work is the huge bronze L'Homme au mouton (1943), showing a man carrying a struggling sheep, as though offering it for sacrifice.
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