Musée All Day

1-Nov-23

It's been 50 years since Pablo Picasso's death & the city of Barcelona - his adopted Catalan home - is celebrating him with a joint exhibit of his & Juan Miró's work (a native son of Barcelona). The two artists were friends & contemporaries who influenced each other's work, so it was cool to see things they were working on side by side.

Picasso Museum

Miró's The Bottle of Wine, 1924

Picasso's Stage Curtain for the Ballet Mercure, 1924

Picasso's The Painter & His Model, 1926

Picasso's Figure & Profile, 1928

Picasso's Self-Portrait, 1896 (age 16)

Picasso's Man in a Beret, 1895 - he was 14 years old!!

Picasso's First Communion, 1896 - presented at Barcelona's Exposition of Fine Arts and Crafts (depicts his sister & father at her first communion)

Picasso's The Dwarf, 1901

Picasso's Waiting (Margot), 1901

Picasso's studies of Velázquez's Las Meninas, 1957

Picasso's Las Meninas, 1957

Picasso's Las Meninas (Infanta Margarita Maria), 1957

Joan Miró Foundation

Miró's Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, 1920

Miró's Black and Red Series, 1938

Picasso's Horse and Trainer Juggler, 1920 - all drawn from a single line!

Picasso's Las Meninas, 1957

Miró's Self-portrait, 1937-1960

Miró's Lluna, Sol i Una Estrella, 1968 - looks straight out of Delia Deetz's oeuvre

Alexander Calder's Mercury Fountain, 1937 - commissioned for the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris, to be displayed next to Picasso's Guernica. A memorial to Franco's siege on Almadén, real mercury was used because Almadén has the largest mercury mines in the world. Unlike back in 1937, the artwork is behind glass to prevent spectators from inhaling the toxic fumes.

Tapestry of the Fundació, 1979

After hours of museum'ing, we took a gondola up to Castell de Montjuïc, a 17th century fortress built atop an 11th century watchtower, for a sweeping view of the city. A massive & imposing building, the Castell holds a dark place in Barcelona's history, as it was mainly used to execute political prisoners of whatever current government was in power until the mid-20th century.

Views of Barcelona from the hills of Montjuïc

We rounded out the evening with a flamenco show that was a very different style than we've seen before. The music was great, there was way more percussion, & they highlighted the men a lot more. The women, however, were great - they had huge skirts that they deftly used their feet to flick & dance around stage. It was fantastic! 💃🏽