BARCELONA MODERNA. From Gaudí to Picasso

Around 1900, Barcelona emerged as one of Europe’s most dynamic cultural centers. Amid industrialization, the city’s rapid growth, and resulting social conflicts, Catalan Modernisme took shape there—an extraordinary artistic movement including architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, music, and design, that can be compared to Art Nouveau. Barcelona moderna: From Gaudí to Picasso is the first exhibition in Germany to focus on this unique cultural scene and explores the city’s artistic developments between 1880 and 1914. Showcasing around 160 paintings, prints, objects, sculptures, pieces of furniture, and architectural models, the presentation illustrates the remarkable stylistic diversity of this movement while placing it within Barcelona’s social and historical context. In addition to well-known figures such as Antoni Gaudí and the young Pablo Picasso, the audience is invited to rediscover numerous outstanding artists who have been unjustly forgotten in Germany. These include the architects Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, as well as the painters Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Ramon Casas, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, and Santiago Rusiñol. From the legendary Café Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona to the artists’ residence of Cau Ferrat in Sitges, the exhibition traces the movement’s creative hubs. It also examines the social tensions in the metropolis, while the landscapes of Catalonia and Mallorca emerge as places of artistic inspiration and retreat. The show concludes with early works by Pablo Picasso that, in dialog with other artists of his generation, mark the transition to European modernity. Featuring exceptional loans from major museums and private collections—including numerous works shown outside Spain for the first time—the exhibition offers new perspectives on Catalan Modernisme and evokes the spirit of artistic renewal in Barcelona around 1900. Barcelona moderna: From Gaudí to Picasso is organized in cooperation with the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, where a modified version will be on view from March 20 to June 20, 2027.