Pablo Picasso was appointed by the Republican government as director of the Museo Nacional del Prado. His appointment took place on 19 September 1936 and was published in La Gaceta de Madrid on the 25th. The new director accepted the post and took up his post, although he did not travel to Spain as the government of the Republic wished.
Personalities of the time, such as Wenceslao Ronces and Joseph Renau, actively encouraged him to come to Madrid and to make his support for the Republic explicit with this gesture. Picasso, who was living in Paris at the time, did not travel to Madrid and no formal inauguration ceremony was held. He did, however, act as a director on several occasions, taking part in the Congress of American Artists, for example, where he defended the activities of the government of the Spanish Republic.
Pablo Picasso was never officially dismissed. He used to joke about this, saying that it was not clear to him whether he had been relieved of his post, which would make him director for life of the Museo del Prado, a permanent resident of the rooms where he started out as a painter.
