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.

• 

  Pablo PicassoBreakwater and sailing boatBarcelona, February 1896Oil on wood9,8 x 15,6 cmGift of Pablo Picasso, 1970Gasull FotografiaMPB 110.170
• 

  Antoni EsplugasThe portc. 1890Albumen printArxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

Lire la suite

Landscapes of Barcelona presents a series of paintings and drawings of Barcelona’s seafront and urban areas from the Museu Picasso’s permanent collection.

Most of the landscapes were painted between 1895 and 1903. During this period in his life, he discovered a modern city in the process of opening up to Europe yet where the old still remained as a sign of the times. The landscapes bear witness to Picasso’s own creative evolution: from his formative years to his growing ties to the Catalan artistic avant-garde as he honed his first personal style. In 1917 he paints the city again and portrays it through avant-garde eyes.

These works are presented here along photographic documents that, to a great extent, identify them, and have been selected from renowned photography archives in the city: Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona, Arxiu Fotogràfic Centre Excursionista de Catalunya and Fundació Amatller d’Art Hispànic. Arxiu Mas.

• 

  Pablo PicassoBarceloneta beachBarcelona, 1896Oil on canvas24,4 x 34 cm (irregular)Gift of Pablo Picasso, 1970Gasull FotografiaMPB 110.073

Lire la suite

Lire la suite