The "Picasso and the Masters" exhibition opened this week and sets the late Spanish painter's works alongside classical artists such as Goya, Velazquez and Delacroix.

The Daily Telegraph said the show was booked by Louvre President Henri Loyrette, who wanted to increase attendance at the museum.

"They visit the Louvre like they'd visit Chernobyl," Marc Dumaroli, the chairman of the Society of Friends of the Louvre, told the newspaper, adding the masses descending on the museum were "a cancer."

Critics have slammed Loyrette for allegedly dumbing down museum events to draw more people and for having popular fundraisers such as a Duran Duran concert this summer, the Telegraph said.

However, Loyrette defends his tactics, noting, "It was meant to be a museum open to all."