André Malraux et Pablo Picasso : le musée imaginaire

This focused exhibition brings together works by Picasso and texts in which André Malraux examined, described and sometimes reimagined them. Displayed within the collection galleries of the Musée national Picasso-Paris, it explores the painter’s place in the writer’s imaginary museum: a dialogue in which literature develops its own reading of images.

The starting point is a visit to Notre-Dame-de-Vie after Picasso’s death in 1973. Asked by Jacqueline Roque to help her with the estate, Malraux discovered the studio and the works the painter had kept close to him. This encounter with the paintings informed La Tête d’obsidienne, published the following year.

The book combines recollections with fictionalised conversations. Rather than tracing the story of a friendship, the display therefore invites visitors to consider how Picasso shaped Malraux’s thinking about art. The works become conversation partners for a writer seeking to clarify his own theories through them.

Practical information
- Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30 am to 6 pm. Last admission at 5:15 pm; galleries begin closing at 5:40 pm.
- Closed on Mondays, 25 December and 1 January.
- Closes at 5 pm on 24 and 31 December, with last admission at 4:15 pm.
- Free admission on the first Sunday of the month.
- Display on the third floor. The lift serving this floor is currently out of service; access is by stairs.