The state acquired the greatest Picasso collection in the world in lieu of a $50 million levy in inheritance taxes. The tax man claimed 203 paintings, 158 sculptures, 16 collages, 19 bas-reliefs, 88 ceramics, and more than 1,500 sketches and 1,600 engravings, along with 30 notebooks. These works span some 75 years of the artist's life and ever-changing style.

The range of paintings includes a remarkable self-portrait from 1901 and the masterpieces Le Baiser (The Kiss), Reclining Nude, and Man with a Guitar, all painted at Mougins on the Riviera in 1969 and 1970. It's easy to stroll through the handsome museum seeking your own favorite work--perhaps a wicked one: Jeune Garçon à la Langouste (Young Man with a Lobster), painted in Paris in 1941. The Paris museum owns several intriguing studies for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the painting that shocked the establishment and launched Cubism in 1907.

Some visitors go to the Picasso Museum just to view the ribald paintings the artist turned out in his later years--perhaps just for his own erotic amusement.

Many of the major masterpieces, such as The Crucifixion and Nude in a Red Arm-chair, remain on permanent view. But because the collection is so vast, temporary exhibitions featuring such items as his studies of the Minotaur are held for the public at the rate of two each year.

In addition to Picasso's own treasure trove of art, his private collection of other masters' works is also displayed, including those of such world-class artists as Cézanne, Rousseau, Braque, André Derain, and Miré. Picasso was fascinated with African masks, many of which are on view.