The Musée Picasso is housed in the magnificent Hôtel Salé, a 17th-century mansion in the Marais, and holds the largest public collection of Picasso's work in the world: over 5,000 drawings, engravings, paintings, sculptures, and ceramics spanning his entire career from the Blue Period to Cubism to his final years.
The state received many of these works as payment of inheritance tax following Picasso's death in 1973 — an arrangement that gave France an astonishing collection. The museum was extensively renovated and reopened in 2014, displaying the works chronologically across beautifully restored rooms.
This is not a museum for casual visitors who want a quick hit — budget two hours minimum to do it justice. The collection rewards attention: you see the shifts in style and technique over seven decades, the recurring themes, the private works he never intended to sell. The building itself, with its ornate stone carvings and grand staircase, is a major pleasure.