Picasso Masterpieces to Tour World

PARIS (Agence France-Presse)—About 350 masterpieces of the Picasso Museum in Paris are going on tour early next year, with a first exhibition planned in Madrid before heading to Japan, and possibly China, during the Olympic Games.

The “Picasso Retrospective” is set to travel to Abu Dhabi and the United States next year, with stops planned in Brazil and Russia in 2009, said museum director Anne Baldassari.

Talks are under way with China for the exhibition to be shown in Beijing during the Olympic Games in August 2008, said Baldassari.

The Picasso Museum, which houses 500 paintings and sculptures by Pablo Picasso, along with countless drawings, photographs, and prints, will be closed from October 2008 to the end of 2010 to allow for major renovation work.

But some of the works by the Spanish painter will be on display at the Grand Palais museum during the closure.