Barcelona's Picasso Museum highlights his early works

First Communion, 1896; amazingly, Picasso was only 14 when he painted this work, one of the museum highlights; the museum opened to the public in March 1963, becoming the first museum dedicated to Picasso's work and the only one created during his lifetime

Science and Charity, 1897; completed when Picasso was 15, this work received an honorable mention at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid; I like Picasso's early works much better than his later works

Pablo Picasso was only 15 when he completed this self-portrait; the Picasso Museum has 4000+ works and is housed in five adjoining medieval palaces in the La Ribera neighborhood in the Old City of Barcelona

Woman with Mantila, 1917; I loved this work which shows Picasso trying his hand at pointillism; born in Malaga, Picasso and his family moved to Barcelona in 1895, when he was almost fourteen, and where he would live until 1904

Harlequin, 1917; in 1970, Picasso donated 920 works to the museum that his family had been keeping for him while he lived in France; this work, which Picasso gave the city, marked the first time any of his works were held in a public collection

The five palaces making up the museum were built during the 13th and 14th centuries with elaborate polychrome stucco and gilt carvings; each of the five palaces is built around an interior courtyard with the exteriors revealing little of the glitz inside

Still Life, 1901; during the nine years Picasso lived in the La Ribera neighborhood of Barcelona, he received the bulk of his artistic technical training and formed close friendships that he maintained for the rest of his life

The Disinherited Ones, 1903; in 1904, Picasso moved to Paris but returned to Barcelona often to visit family and friends; there is an excellent audioguide available included with admission (17 euros)

Jaume Sabartes with Ruff and Bonnet, 1939; Sabartes was one of Picasso's best friends and it was Sabartes who founded the museum by donating to it 574 works from his personal collection

Owl, 1961; Picasso worked intensively with ceramics between 1947 and 1963 creating new processes and techniques in this millenary artistic tradition; of the 42 ceramic pieces at the museum, all but one were donated by Picasso's widow

Las Meninas, 1957; Las Meninas is one of Diego Velasquez's most famous works and Picasso painted 58 works in his interpretation; Picasso mixed sound, movement, and character while retaining some elements of the original work such as volume and light