Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali

Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí

Accommodations of Desire by Salvador Dali
Title: Accommodations of Desire, 1929
Artist: Salvador Dalí (Spanish 1904 - 1989)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 22 x 35 cm
Permanent Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998
(1999.363.16)
Photograph © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
© 1988 Malcolm Varon
© 2006 Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

Barcelona & Modernity
Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí
Cleveland Museum of Art
October 15, 2006 - January 7, 2007

Barcelona, Spain produced some fabulous artistic talent especially during a remarkable 71-year period (1868-1939) when the city transformed itself into one of the most dynamic centers of modernist art and architecture in Europe. An exhibit celebrating Picasso, Gaudí, Miró and Dalí is currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA).

“The exhibition will provide American audiences with their first substantial glimpse into Catalan culture during a period of immense social turmoil and creative achievement,” commented William Robinson, CMA curator of Modern European art. “Coming to terms with this remarkable period in the history of art presents a daunting challenge to anyone who wants to unravel the complexity of Barcelona and Catalonia, subjects we may never view in the same way again.”

Pablo Picasso

La Vie by Pablo Picasso
Title: La Vie, 1903
Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish 1881-1973)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 196.5 x 129.2 cm
Permanent Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Gift of the Hanna Fund 1945.24
© 2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

The city of Barcelona was the first to exhibit Pablo Picasso's premiere large painting, The First Communion, which is an academic work, in 1896.

During his blue period, a time noted for his melancholic works, Picasso alternated living in Paris or Barcelona.

The Blind Man's Meal by Pablo Picasso
Title: The Blindman’s Meal, 1903
Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish 1881-1973)Picasso, Pablo
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 95.25 x 94.62 cm
Permanent Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt Gift, 1950 (50.188)
Photograph © 1996 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
© 2006 Estate of Pablo Picasso /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

Antoni Gaudí

Title: Double Screen from the Casa Milà, 1909
Artist: Antoni Gaudí (Spanish 1852-1926) with Josep M. Jujol (Spanish 1879-1949)
Medium: Wood and Frosted Glass
Dimensions: 196 x 400 cm
Private Collection
Courtesy: Allan Stone Gallery, New York
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

Antoni Gaudí studied at the Provincial School of Architecture in Barcelona, entering the institution in 1873. After graduating his style was heavily influenced from his devout Catholic faith and he earned the nickname "God's Architect". He spent nearly 30 years working on the Sagrada Familia church, his best known project. Tragically he died from complications, after being struck by a tram, before that project was complete. Gaudí was entombed in a crypt in the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona.

Joan Miró

Barcelona native Joan Miró, like Dalí, was a surrealist but later delved into collages.

Portrait of E. C. Ricart by Joan Miro
Title: Portrait of E. C. Ricart, 1917
Artist: Joan Miró (Spanish 1893-1983)
Medium: Oil and Pasted Paper on Canvas
Dimensions: 81.6 x 65.7 cm
Permanent Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Florene May Schoenborn Bequest (822.1996).
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/
Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY.
© 2006 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York / ADAGP, Paris
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

Black and Red Series by Joan Miro
Title: Black and Red Series, 1938
Artist: Joan Miró (Spanish 1893-1983)
Medium: Etching, Composition
Dimensions: 16.7 x 25.7 cm
Permanent Collection: The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Purchased with the Frances Keech Fund and funds given
239.1996.1-8.
Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by
SCALA/Art Resource, NY © 2006 Successió Miró /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

Barcelona is home to the the Joan Miró Foundation Centre of Contemporary Art Study opened in 1976.

Salvador Dalí

The Dream Le Reve by Salvador Dali
Title: The Dream (Le Rêve), 1931
Artist: Salvador Dalí (Spanish 1904 - 1989)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 96 x 96 cm
Permanent Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
John L. Severance Fund 2001.34
© 2006 Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image Courtesy: Cleveland Museum of Art

Surrealism. That is the way to describe the unique Salvador Dalí. He studied in Madrid and Barcelona before his relocation to Paris. His flamboyant style and skill at self-promotion made him the best known of the surrealists. Barcelona exhibitions of his works brought him attention and a following.

Barcelona & Modernity

The exhibition features more than 350 artworks in a variety of media: paintings, sculptures, posters, photographs, textiles, furniture, decorative objects, architectural designs and models.

Barcelona & Modernity
Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí
Cleveland Museum of Art:
October 15, 2006 - January 7, 2007
Metropolitan Museum of Art:
March 7, 2007 - May 20, 2007

Cleveland Museum of Art

www.clevelandart.org