Musée Picasso Paris to Sell Four Posthumous Bronzes for €40 Million to Fund Expansion

Key facts

• The Musée national Picasso-Paris will sell four posthumous bronze casts for €40 million to fund its expansion.
• The total transformation project, "Picasso 2030," costs €55 million and was announced last year for the museum's 40th anniversary.
• Eight posthumous bronze editions were authorized by Picasso's heirs for the first time, produced by a foundry in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
• The four sold bronzes are La Chèvre (1952), La Guenon et son petit (1951), Tête de femme (1931), and Petite fille sautant à la corde (1950).
• The DQ Art Foundation, a patron of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, acquired the four bronzes and will donate them to the Rijksmuseum.
• The remaining four bronzes—two other casts of Tête de femme (1931) and Petite fille sautant à la corde (1950), plus La Femme au jardin (1930) and Buste de femme (1931)—will be placed in the museum's future garden.
• Museum president Cécile Debray called the agreement with the family "miraculous"; Paloma Picasso had long refused posthumous editions.
• The project includes a sculpture garden linking the Hôtel Salé garden to the public Square Leonor-Fini, with about ten Picasso sculptures viewable for free, and a new 800 m² contemporary wing for temporary exhibitions.
• Five architect and landscape teams were selected from 150 applications at a press conference on Friday, September 11; the winner will be announced in January 2027.