( dpa ) - Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Princess Letizia on Tuesday inaugurated the biggest exhibition ever staged in Spain of works of Spanish-born artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).
More than 400 works are on display at Madrid's Reina Sofia museum of modern art in an exhibition titled "The Collection of the National Picasso Museum of Paris."
The paintings, drawings, engravings, sculptures and ceramics, many of which belonged to Picasso's personal collection, are on loan from the museum in Paris, which has closed temporarily for enlargement and renovation.
"This has never been done before and will not be done again," said Anne Baldassari, director of the Picasso Museum in Paris.
The exhibition covering all of Picasso's artistic phases shows "what Picasso thought painting should be about," Reina Sofia director Manuel Borja-Villel said.
Picasso was born in Malaga in southern Spain, but spent most of his life in France, where he died in the southern town of Mougins.
The Spanish government paid 3.5 million euros (5 million dollars) for the loan. The exhibition will run through May 5.