Fifty-seven original prints by Pablo Picasso are hanging in downtown Coral Springs this weekend, and they are the first thing visitors see in the Coral Springs Museum of Art's brand new home. The museum opened its relocated gallery at 3380 N. University Drive, at the corner of University Drive and Sample Road, with an opening weekend on Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10, 2026. Saturday is the free day: doors are open from noon to 8 p.m. with no admission charge, a first look at the new space and its debut exhibition, and limited-edition museum merchandise.
For a city of Coral Springs' size, a Picasso show is not an everyday thing. For a museum that spent years inside the Coral Springs Center for the Arts complex on Coral Springs Drive, a storefront address in the middle of downtown is not an everyday thing either. This weekend delivers both at once.
What is on the walls
The inaugural exhibition is Picasso: A Graphic Journey, on view from October 9 through December 5, 2026. It is a traveling show built from the collection of Timothy Collins of Los Angeles, curated by Eric Mourlot, and it focuses on the part of Picasso's career many casual fans never think about: printmaking. The 57 works span 1923 to 1972, close to fifty years of output, and include etchings, lithographs and linocuts.
Two details make it worth slowing down. The first is a canceled copper printing plate, the actual metal Picasso's image was etched into before it was defaced to end the edition. Seeing the tool next to the prints it made explains the craft better than any wall text. The second is a run of proofs of Tête de Femme au Chapeau, shown side by side so you can follow the image from early color trials to its finished state. It is a rare chance to watch Picasso change his mind.
The show has support from the Broward Cultural Division, the City of Coral Springs and Funding Arts Broward, which helps explain how a show of this kind landed in a municipal museum in northwest Broward County.
Two more shows in the new rooms
Picasso is the headliner, but he is not alone. Cages and Collage, by artist Janet Gold, runs from October 9, 2026 through January 30, 2027. Gold layers vintage papers, faded photographs and fabric into small collages and three-dimensional assemblages that read like found family histories. It is a quieter, closer-up experience, and a good counterweight to the Picasso galleries.
Art and Evolution, on view through December 31, looks back at the museum itself: more than thirty years of programming in Coral Springs, its long partnership with the city, and the behind-the-scenes process behind its new name and visual identity, from community input and early sketches to the final logo. If you took a class or saw a show at the old location, this is where you will recognize your own history.
How the new space works
The City of Coral Springs, which runs the museum, describes the downtown gallery as slightly smaller than the old one but more flexible, with movable walls and a multipurpose area that can shift between exhibitions, talks and family programs. Exhibitions are already scheduled through December 2028.
The city also plans two neighbors for the gallery that change how a visit feels. A museum store will carry work by local artisans along with gifts, books and museum merchandise. And an adjacent coffee shop, run as a separate business, is planned to serve specialty coffee, tea, light bites and pastries. That turns the museum from an occasional outing into a place you can fold into a downtown afternoon.
The old building at 2855 Coral Springs Drive is not going away. It now operates as the museum's Creative Studios, where art classes continue, and the city plans to make the space available for private and community events.
The build-out of the downtown gallery is estimated at about $3.4 million, funded mostly through the city's capital budget and its Community Redevelopment Agency, with the rest from tenant allowances. The point of the move is in the address: the museum now sits where people already walk, eat and park in downtown Coral Springs.
Plan your visit
The city lists admission to the gallery as free. Regular hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m., and Monday by appointment only. The museum is closed Sundays and on nationally observed holidays, and hours can change, so check before you go.
Parking is free. For opening weekend the museum points visitors to the ground level of the Modera building lot, entered from Sample Road, and to the nearby City Hall parking garage. The city also lists the connected Cornerstone garage as free public parking for the gallery.
The calendar fills in quickly after opening weekend. A talk on Picasso's prints is set for October 24 in the new downtown studio. ARTventures, a gallery tour followed by a family art activity, starts November 7. Janet Gold leads a two-hour creativity workshop starting November 12. Art Spectrum, a sensory-informed program for children who need extra support and their families, begins November 14. And on December 5, the final day of the Picasso show, artist Kaili Woop teaches the basics of Gelli printmaking, a fitting way to send off an exhibition about prints. Questions go to the museum at 954-340-5000.
Why it matters here
Most of South Florida's big-name museum shows happen in Miami, Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach, which means a drive, a parking fee and an admission ticket. This one is on the corner of University and Sample, free, and open until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. You can see work by one of the most important artists of the twentieth century on a weeknight after school pickup, then grab dinner a block away. If you live in Coral Springs, Parkland, Tamarac or Margate, the Picasso prints are here for eight weeks. Go once early to see the plate and the proofs, and go back with the kids for a Saturday program.
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