Picasso museum opens after five years of renovations and controversy

The Picasso Museum in Paris has re-opened after a controversial, five-year renovation to the 17th-century mansion in the trendy Marais quarter.

Picasso museum in France reopens after five years.

After a five-year renovation The Picasso Museum in Paris has re-opened with arguments over the 52 million euros ($A78 million) project still reverberating.

French President Francois Hollande said at a ceremony the museum was "one of the most beautiful in the world and one of the most moving because it brings together the considerable and prolific work of the best-known artist of the 20th century".

The ceremony, though, did little to hide the rancour surrounding the project, which featured the sacking of its director, a blast of criticism from the artist's son, lengthy delays and a huge budget overrun.

The museum - housed in a 17th-century mansion in Paris's trendy Marais quarter - has been extensively modernised and enlarged to more than twice its previous size.

But the project ran 22 million euros over budget due to an increase in the scope of the works, and a rift developed between Picasso's son Claude and the French government.

The ceremony did little to hide the rancour surrounding the project, which featured the sacking of its director, a blast of criticism from the artist's son, lengthy delays and a huge budget overrun.

The gallery, which first opened in 1985, boasts one of the world's most extensive collections of Picasso's work with 5,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs and documents.

The Spanish artist spent most of his life in France and the majority of the exhibits were left to the French state on his death in 1973.

The project ran 22 million euros over budget due to an increase in the scope of the works, and a rift developed between Picasso's son Claude and the French government.

Others were donated by his family, including his widow Jacqueline.

According to the Picasso Museum's new director, Laurent Le Bon, the expansion - which has boosted the exhibition space to 3,800 square metres - will allow it to display far more of its collection, only a fraction of which was previously displayed due to lack of space.

Le Bon said the beauty of the renovation was that "everything has changed and nothing has changed".

"You still have the basic structure of the building ... but at the same time everything has been redone," he said.

"One can move around much more easily than before, one has a freedom which goes well with the spirit and the works of Picasso."