Casa natal de Pablo Ruiz Picasso

The Casa Natal de Pablo Ruiz Picasso, also known as the Museo Casa Natal Picasso, is a museum and cultural institution located at 15 Plaza de la Merced in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. Established in 1988 by the city government of Málaga, it occupies the building where Pablo Picasso was born on 25 October 1881. The museum serves as the headquarters of the Fundación Picasso (Pablo Ruiz Picasso Foundation), an organization dedicated to promoting and disseminating the work of the artist. Distinct from the larger Museo Picasso Málaga and its associated foundations, the Casa Natal focuses on Picasso's formative years, his family context, and his enduring connection to his native city, while also housing substantial collections of his graphic work, ceramics, and related contemporary art.

The Fundación Picasso was created by the Ayuntamiento de Málaga in 1988, with its headquarters established in the Casa Natal, a building that had been declared a Historical-Artistic Monument of National Interest on 25 March 1983 under Spain's heritage protection law. The building itself dates from 1861, though the northern block of the plaza, known as the Casas de Campos, was completed in 1872 through the initiative of entrepreneur Antonio Campos Garín with architect Gerónimo Cuervo. Picasso's father, José Ruiz Blasco, rented the first floor from 1880 to 1883, and the artist spent his first ten years in Málaga before the family moved to La Coruña in October 1891. The building was originally limited to first-floor use but was completely renovated and opened to the public in its entirety on 22 June 1998 in an official ceremony presided over by the King and Queen of Spain. In 2005, the foundation obtained additional exhibition space at Number 13 of the same plaza. A significant institutional change occurred in 2009 when the Andalusian Autonomous Government agreed to transfer the Palacio de Buenavista to the foundation following the merger of the Fundación Picasso with the Fundación Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, creating the new merged entity officially named the Fundación Museo Picasso Málaga. Legado Paul, Christine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso.

The museum's holdings comprise more than 7,000 works by over 200 artists, making it a significant repository of twentieth-century graphic art with particular strength in Picasso's own production. The collection is organized around several specialized areas: Picasso's graphic work spanning aesthetic periods from 1905 to 1971, including etching, linocut, and drypoint; a lithography collection of 238 works created between 1930 and 1960, considered the second most important in the world, with its core formed by the Jan Lohn collection acquired in 2004; over 55 illustrated books by Picasso and other artists containing more than 500 engravings; and 35 ceramic pieces created between 1947 and 1969. The foundation also maintains collections of work by the kinetic sculptor Frank Rebajes, sketches by Luis Molledo, and a substantial holding of engravings and graphic works by major modern and contemporary artists. The documentation center houses a specialized library on Picasso's life and work, while the cultural promotion department organizes exhibitions, conferences, and educational activities.

Among the most significant individual items in the collection are the 84 preparatory drawings for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon from 1907, preserved in sketchbook number 7, the only such album existing in Spain among the 16 the artist dedicated to studies for this seminal modernist work. The first major acquisition was the portfolio Sueño y mentira de Franco (Dream and Lie of Franco), donated by Picasso's granddaughter Marina Picasso in 1989, followed in 1992 by ten illustrated books donated by Christine Ruiz Picasso. The lithography collection, built around the 223 works assembled by German collector Jan Lohn, provides exceptional coverage of Picasso's graphic production across three decades. The museum also holds original photographs by Juan Gyenes documenting the artist's later life, personal childhood items including clothing and toys, and works by Picasso's father José Ruiz Blasco, a painter and drawing professor at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Málaga. The collection extends to engravings by Pablo Palazuelo, Manuel Hernández Mompó, Eduardo Arroyo, Rafael Canogar, Manuel Rivera, Arman, Alfonso Albacete, Manuel Quejido, and Marc Chagall, plus graphic works by Joan Miró, Christo, Francis Bacon, Joan Brossa, Max Ernst, Antoni Tàpies, Eduardo Chillida, Perejaume, Jaume Plensa, Dokoupil, Oswaldo Guayasamín, Josep Guinovart, Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, and Henry Moore.

The museum occupies a building of 1861 in the historic center of Málaga, on the Plaza de la Merced, a location surrounded by monuments including the Roman Theatre, Gibralfaro Castle, the Alcazaba, and Málaga Cathedral. The structure was declared a monumento histórico artístico in 1983 and is protected as bien de interés cultural under Spanish heritage law. The building's nine rooms are arranged across multiple floors: the ground floor contains temporary exhibition spaces and the thematic sections devoted to Picasso's artistic formation, his relationship with models, and the artist's studio; the first floor evokes the family environment with period furnishings and personal mementos; and the upper floor houses the library and research center. A nineteenth-century hall-study recreates the environment of Picasso's early years. The foundation also operates an second exhibition venue at Plaza de la Merced 13, opened in 2005, which hosts temporary exhibitions such as the 2025 presentation Julio Anaya Cabanding: Guernica despedazado.

The Casa Natal de Picasso is located at 15 Plaza de la Merced, Málaga, and operates as a public cultural institution under the Fundación Picasso. It is open daily except on 1 January and 25 December, with reduced hours on 24 and 31 December. Admission is set at 3 euros for the museum, 3 euros for temporary exhibitions, and 4 euros for a combined ticket; free entry is offered on Sundays from 16:00 to 20:00, with free admission also available for senior citizens, youths under 18 accompanied by an adult, students up to 26 with valid ID, and unemployed visitors. The museum can be contacted at +34 951 92 60 60. Beyond its permanent installations, the foundation has since the late 1990s operated the Picasso Exterior program, sending works on loan to institutions in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, the United States, Turkey, and South Korea. In 2024, the institution hosted an artist residency by Chen Chunmu, a Chinese artist born in 1981 in Quanzhou, with simultaneous exhibitions held at the Casa Natal, the Colección del Museo Ruso, and Centre Pompidou Málaga from 25 October 2024 to January 2025.