The Musee National Picasso-Paris is a traditional French house, while the Pudong museum is a beautiful modern one, Smith said at the opening, explaining the changes he and his colleagues made to bring the exhibition to Shanghai. "The height and size of the rooms, the texture of the floor, and many other things are very different."

While it was quite complicated to recreate the scenography, "The principle is more or less the same," he said.

Some artworks had to be changed because they were unfit for international travel. "We made sure to replace the works with others that are equally valuable and significant," Debray says.