Seafront

When they arrived in Barcelona, the Ruiz Picasso family set up home by the port. The sea appears naturally in Picasso’s drawings and paintings from around 1895 to 1899.

In his painterly itinerary, Picasso followed the coastline from Montjuïc mountain, past the port, the Barceloneta neighbourhood seafront to the breakwater, and then on to Barceloneta beach with the factories of Poblenou in the background up to the Marina mountain range.

These landscapes are free artistic exercises in which Picasso explored perspective, light, brushstrokes and shades of colour.

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  Pablo PicassoBreakwater and sailing boatBarcelona, February 1896Oil on wood9,8 x 15,6 cmGift of Pablo Picasso, 1970Gasull FotografiaMPB 110.170
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  Antoni EsplugasThe portc. 1890Albumen printArxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

Historic Barcelona

Historic Barcelona lived alongside modern Barcelona. Picasso created landscapes full of emblematic places, monumental buildings with the religious architecture of the Old Town.

Picasso’s gaze rested on the cloisters in two religious buildings: the Romanesque Sant Pau del Camp and the Gothic cathedral. In the former he focused on the striking multi-foiled arches. In the latter, he was interested in the door to the chapel of Santa Llúcia in Flamboyant Gothic style – which flourished in northern European countries in the 15th century – and the Gothic buttress around the goose pond.

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  Pablo PicassoCorner at the cloister of Sant Pau del CampBarcelona, December 1896Oil on wood15,5 x 10,1 cmGift of Pablo Picasso, 1970Gasull FotografiaMPB 110.195

   

  http://www.bcn.cat/museupicasso/en/exhibitions/landscapes-of-barcelona.html#barcelona-patrimonial