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The creation of a study center: at the heart of the museum project
Among the missions of the Musée Picasso, as defined by the decree of June 18, 2010, Article 2 states the responsibility to present the national collections entrusted by the French State to the Musée national Picasso-Paris, in particular the works and archives of Pablo Picasso, as well as his personal collection.
In the museum’s founding document drafted in 1976, Dominique Bozo, who became its first director, already emphasized the importance of “developing an international (multidisciplinary) center for study and research.” Included in the museum’s Scientific and Cultural Project since 2014, the Centre d'études Picasso (Picasso Study Center) has been one of the institution’s key and cross-disciplinary priorities since 2021.
Conceived as a resource and research center, the Centre d'études Picasso aims to become a meeting place dedicated to the study of Pablo Picasso’s work and its reception in the history of art, culture, and society in the 20th and 21st centuries. The Center seeks to encourage and promote research produced by the museum within a privileged framework of scholarly exchange with an international community of researchers and artists.
The CEP provides privileged access to the museum’s resources through its documentary portal: works from the collection, the artist’s personal archives, photographs, the museum library, and documentation.
Led by the museum’s scientific staff, the Centre d'études Picasso works in close collaboration with institutions and research laboratories in France and abroad, and develops a dynamic and cross-disciplinary research program through study days, seminars, conferences, and publications.
Facilitating access to the museum’s resources
The Musée national Picasso-Paris has a permanent mission to “contribute to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and research” (Article L441-2 of the French Code du Patrimoine).
A cross-collection database
The Centre d'études Picasso’s portal brings together nearly 60,000 records of artworks and archival materials. The database encompasses the entirety of the museum’s collections as well as its archival and documentary resources, enabling a cross-collection exploration of its holdings.
The creation of the portal reflects the museum’s commitment to making its resources available to researchers and the wider public, along with the research and documentation work carried out by the museum’s scientific staff on its collections.
Digitization of the collections
In 2023, the museum launched a large-scale digitization program of its holdings to make them accessible through the digital portal, beginning with its photographic collections.
Welcoming researchers
As a resource and research center, the Centre d'études Picasso is now equipped with a consultation room providing all the services required by researchers. Located in the heart of the Marais district, in immediate proximity to the Hôtel Salé, the Center will be part of the prestigious architectural and historical complex of the Quadrilatère des Archives nationales.
Housed in a fully renovated building within the former outbuildings of the Hôtel de Rohan, located in the Cour des Chevaux du Soleil - until recently home to the Minutier central des notaires de Paris - the Centre d'études Picasso offers all the facilities necessary for research: secure access by appointment, a document preparation area for consulted materials, workspaces, dedicated computers for accessing digital and audiovisual resources, reprography services, a permanent on-site scientific staff, access to all the museum’s archival and documentary resources as well as its library, and a meeting room for study days.
Promoting and expanding research
The Picasso Study Center is intended to become a key venue for scholarly exchange through the organization of regular events (study days, seminars, conferences) structured around research themes connected to the life of the museum and its collections, as well as current research developments (artistic, scientific, and cultural programming).
The Center’s portal disseminates all events and content generated by these activities (lectures, podcasts, texts, etc.). Research will be enriched through collaborations and partnerships with institutions and research centers in France and abroad.
The Centre d'études Picasso also awards research grants and will host international fellows starting from the 2025–2026 academic year.
Scholars, curators, conservators, restorers, established researchers, doctoral candidates, and artists will find in the Picasso Study Center a community for reflection and exchange on all subjects relating to the artist and to the artistic and cultural life of the periods and regions he encountered and shaped.
Study of the Collections
Material studies of the collections
Circulation of objects and the art market
Provenance research
Picasso’s Personal Archives
Picasso's correspondence
The archive as a critical source and artistic material
The artist’s personal library
Study of Picasso’s visual culture
Modern Art History
Study of the work of Picasso’s contemporaries and of “peripheral” practices, in connection with the exhibition program of the Musée national Picasso-Paris
Reception and critical fortune of Picasso’s work on an international scale
Museum Studies
History of the Picasso Museum
History and issues of the monographic museum
Cécile Godefroy, Head of the Department of Archives and Research
Simone Zimbardi, Head of archives
Sonia Descamps, Head of Library, documentation and documentation systems
Céline Isabel, Librarian
Adèle Zwilling, Research programmes coordinator, in charge of editorial contents
