The close relationship between the city of Malaga
and Pablo Ruiz Picasso dates back to 1861 , when the painter was
born at number 36, Plaza de la Merced, in a house rented by his
parents, Jose Ruiz Blanco and Maria Picasso Lopez. Housing the Foundation
which bears the name of the painter, the house is also an important
Documentation Centre which exhibits some of his works, Baptised
in the baroque Parish Church of Santiago, he attended the San Rafael
school, but always found time to play in the Plaza next to his house,
a place with a long history which was the site of the public market
in the 15th century, becoming later, in the 19th century a place
of leisure for the bourgeoisie.
THE MALAGUETA AND THE LYCEUM nascent artist in
the youthful Picasso drank in all the atmosphere of the city, its
personalities, and colour. His father took him tasee the famous
bullfighters of the day. in places such as theMalagueta Bullring,
built next to the seafrontin 1874, and this would be a repeated
theme in his bullfighting scenes. Also as a young child he attended
both theSan Telmo Fine Arts School, where his father gave classes
in geometrical drawing, and the Artistic and Uterary Lyceum, which
is nowadays theMaria Cristina Royal Conservatory of Music.
There is no doubt that Picasso took these memories with him when
his family moved to La Coruna and that they later influenced his
artistic work. The admiration that he had for his native city never
diminished and he always dreamed of giving to Malaga what it had
given to him. It is a dream that has finally come true with the
recently opened Picasso Malaga Museum.
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