During the reopening event, French President Francois Hollande asked his people to look for inspiration in the paintings of the Spanish artist. Hollande also said that France was Picasso's second land, since the artist chose this country to live, and even asked for the French nationality in 1940, but was rejected.

“Pablo Picasso, the Spaniard, the republican, the communist, is France's pride,” said Hollande in the inaugural speech.

The Picasso museum holds one of the artist's most important collections in the world, with 5,000 in it between paintings, sculptures, prints, as well as Picasso's personal archives, though only some 400 of them are in exhibition.

The renovation cost around 52 million euros (some US$66 million), twice the projected sum, and had various problems and delays. The former museum director Anne Baldassari was fired over the course of the project.

The museum is situated in a 17th-century mansion in the Marais district, and is now triple the size of the exhibition space over five floors, making it more accessible to what is expected to be up to one million visitors per year.

According to the British news network BBC, the museum now has 40 rooms and 3,000 square meters of exhibition space.

The reopening date was fixed for October 25 because this is Picasso's birthday date. The artist was born in Malaga, Spain, in 1881, but lived must of his adulthood in France.