The Art Gallery of Ontario will bring a major exhibit of the works of Pablo Picasso to Toronto in 2012.

It will be the only Canadian stop for Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, which is touring the world while the Paris museum undergoes a renovation.

The exhibit is drawn from the 5,000 works that Picasso kept for himself and his family, including drawings, sketchbooks, paintings and sculpture.

Among the famous works in the exhibition:

Autoportrait (Self-Portrait), dating from 1906.

Celestina (The Woman with One-Eye), from Picasso's blue period.

Early Cubist works such as 1909-10's Sacré Coeur and 1911's Man with a Guitar.

1925's The Kiss, from his Surrealist period. Picasso's Portrait of Dora Maar from 1937 is a portrait of one of his favourite muses. (Musée National Picasso/AGO)

A series of sculptures created during the Second World War, including Bull's Head and Death's Head.

The Bathers, the 1956 life-sized, figurative sculpture series.

The Matador, a self-portrait painted in 1970, three years before his death.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity for Canadian audiences to view major works by Picasso, drawn from the world's most comprehensive collection of his artwork," AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum said in a press release announcing the exhibit on Friday.

The exhibit will be at the AGO April 28 through Aug. 26, 2012.

It has also toured to Madrid, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, Helsinki, Moscow and St. Petersburg, Seattle, Richmond, San Francisco and Sydney.