5 rue Tnorigny, 3e. In the 17thC Hôtel Salé, an elegant Marais town house tricked out with chequerboard tiled floors and dainty stucco friezes, the largest collection of Picasso’s works in the world is brought to life, not so much by the quantity of the works on display, but by the wealth of personal memorabilia (www.museepicassoparis.fr). The great oeuvres are scattered in museums around the world; those you see here are from Picasso’s personal collection, part of which passed to the state in lieu of taxes on his death. Very early paintings, blue period and Cubist creations, family portraits and expressions of the artist’s political and pacifist convictions trace a coherent portrait of Picasso’s personal and artistic development.

Photographs, documents, assorted belongings, and Picasso’s own art collection including Matisse and Renoir add a unique dimension. An additional bonus is the reasonable museum café.