Archive for the ‘Museums’ Category

Art Ticket for the 7 leading Museums of Barcelona

November 6th, 2009

Be part of art!

art-ticket

Barcelona counts with many interesting museums and lots are well worth a vist, but usually the time and the budget for museum visits are limited during a holdiday. But for art lovers and those really interested into visting at least the  7 leading art centres in Barcelona, there is the Art Ticket available. The Art Ticket is available for only 22 € and is valid during a period of 6 months. Just one ticket grants your access to the leading art exhibitions in Barcelona. If you do not manage to visit all 7 museums during your stay, its another good reason to visit Barcelona soon again.

First Sunday of each month, free Museum entrance for everybody (in almost all museums).

The ticket includes the entrance fee to the following museums:

* CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona) is located in C/ Montalegre 5 in the Raval area and just right next to the MACBA museum, which makes it easy and very convenient to visit both Museums during one day. Just take a break in between and enjoy a drink on a terrace in front of the MACBA museum and watch the skaters who come every day to practise in front of the museum, or take a stroll in the fashionable Raval area. Just around the CCCB is the hip Vintage shop HOLALA! Plaza with clothing, furniture and art books. Located on Plaza de Castilla 2. The CCCB host as well a nice museum shop with books and nice gift ideas. Web: www.cccb.org/en/

* MACBA (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona) , Plaza dels Angels. This museum is also worth a visit for architecture fans. The building got designed by the amercian architect Richard Meier and is based on rationalism and alludes to the masters of Modern Architecture, particularly Le Corbusier. Since september 2006, the old Church of the Convent dels Angels, got converted into the new exhibition space MACBA. Web: www.macba.es

* Picasso Museum , C/ Montcada 15-23. The museum is situated in 5 large old palaces from the 13th – 15th centuries. The palaces are a good example of the Gothic Catalan style and they are built surrounding a courtyard with with an open stairway. Web: www.museupicasso.bcn.cat/en/

All Sundays free from 3 pm.

First Sunday of each month, free Museum entrance for everybody.

* Joan Miro Foundation The foundation is located in a beautiful surrounding on the Montjuic mountain. The Montjuic hosts also a large number of museums, but is at the same time the biggest green space (and parc) of Barcelona with great views over the city. Before heading up to the Montjuic, you might want to visit first the MNAC, on the bottom of Montjuic. Web: http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org

* MNAC (Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya). The Palau Nacional on Plaza Espanya, the emblematic building of the 1929 International Exhibition is the home of the MNAC. In front of this fairytale like castle is the Magic Fountain with its beautiful water, light and music shows. Web: www.mnac.cat

* La Pedrera (meaning: the quarry),  Passeig de Gracia 100. One of the famous works of Gaudi and after the Sagrada Familia the most visited monument or museum of Barcelona. The building (which was supposed to be an apartment building) is the museum itself. The roof top terrace with its futuristic forms and pillars is not only impressive because of its views over the city center. Web: www.lapedreraeducacio.org/eng

* Antoní Tàpies Foundation , C/ Arago 255.  The Barcelona born artist Antoni Tapies created the foundation to promote modern and contemporary art. The foundation is in a former Editorial publishing house, a work of the Modernist architect Lluis Domenech i Montaner, constructed between 1880 and 1885. The building combines exposed brick and iron. Web:www.fundaciotapies.org

You can buy your articket BCN at:

  • Ticket desks at each of the 7 art centers
  • Tel-Entrada +34 902 10 12 12 / www.telentrada.com
  • Tourism Offices in Barcelona:
    Plaza Catalunya, Plaza Sant Jaume, Estació de Sants trainstation
  • Web Turisme de Barcelona, at the site’s shop: www.barcelonaturisme.com

World Press Photo Exhibition in Barcelona

October 28th, 2009

world-press

The annual World Press Photo Exhibition is the best known of World Press Photo’s activities.

First and foremost, World Press Photo is known for organizing the world’s largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest. Prizewinning photographs are assembled into a traveling exhibition that is visited by over two million people. A yearbook presenting all prizewinning entries is published annually in six languages.

The exhibition is officially opened in Amsterdam as part of the prize-giving ceremony in April, and until March the next year.

This year the exhibiton will take place in Barcelona´s CCCB ( Centro de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona ) from the 11th of November till the 13th of December.

Calle de Montalegre 5
08001 Barcelona
Tel.: 933 064 100

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona

September 22nd, 2009

picasso-museum

Picasso Museum
Address: Montcada 15-23  08003 Barcelona
Ph. (+34) 93 256 30 00
Opening from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Closed on Mondays ( except bank holidays)
Website Picasso Museum

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona is a key reference for understanding the formative years of Pablo Ruiz Picasso. The genius of the young artist is revealed through the more than 3,800 works that make up the permanent collection.

The Picasso Museum occupies five large town houses or palaces on the street Montcada The original palaces date from the 13th-15th centuries, undergoing major refurbishments over time, the most important in the 18th century. The palaces are a good example of Catalan civic gothic style. They have a common structure surrounding a courtyard with access to the main floor via an outdoor open stairway.

Picasso lived key years in Barcelona – those of his apprenticeship as an artist. He established and maintained strong links to the city throughout his life and it was here where he wanted his museum to be. That was why in 1960, on Picasso’s own express wish, his friend and personal secretary Jaume Sabartes proposed the creation of a museum dedicated to the artist’s work to the City Council of Barcelona. By 1963, the museum was a reality and opened its doors in the gothic Palau Aguilar located at number 15 Carrer de Montcada.

Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, his family  moved to Barcelona in 1895.  He passed the entrance examination for the Barcelona School of Fine Arts at the age of 14 in just one day and was allowed to skip the first two classes. According to one of many legends about the artist’s life, his father, recognizing the extraordinary talent of his son, gave him his brushes and palette and vowed to paint never again in his life.

During his lifetime, the artist went through different periods of characteristic painting styles. The Blue Period of Picasso lasted from about 1900 to 1904. It is characterized by the use of different shades of blue underlining the melancholic style of his subjects .

During Picasso’s Rose Period from about 1905 to 1906, his style moved away from the Blue Period to a friendly pink tone with subjects taken from the world of the circus.

Inspired by the works of Paul Cezanne, he developed together with George Braque and Juan Gris  the Cubist style. In Cubism, subjects are reduced to basic geometrical shapes. In a later version of Cubism, called synthetic cubism, several views of an object or a person are shown simultaneously from a different perspective in one picture.

In 1937 the artist created his landmark painting Guernica, a protest against the barbaric air raid against a Basque village during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso’s Guernica is a huge mural on canvas in black, white and grey which was created for the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris World’s Fair in 1937. In Guernica, Picasso used symbolic forms – that are repeatedly found in his works following Guernica – like a dying horse or a weeping woman. Picasso had disallowed the return of Guernica to Spain until the end of the rule of Fascism by General Franco.

A new building is being constructed on a square near the Picasso museum in order to enlarge the museum’s  space. May 2010

Pavilion Mies van der Rohe Barcelona

August 19th, 2009

miesvanrohe

Pavilion Mies van der Rohe
From 10 am to 8 pm  Entrance fee : 4 €
Avenida Marques de Comillas
Near Montjuic and the Plaza Espanya in front of the cultural centre Caixa Forum
Web Mies van der Rohe

The famous german pavilion Mies van der Rohe  was designed in 1929 for Barcelona International Exhibition. Its innovative architectural structure marked a radical change in the layout of space and greatly influenced the development of modern architecture.

Mies van der Rohe used basic, elegant materials such as marble, glass and steel.

The Pavilion exhibits also the famous ”Barcelona Chair”, contemporary design , conceived specifically for this building.

This chair is still very contemporary. You can buy it now in many shops.

For your stay in Barcelona, you can hire an apartment near the Montjuic Park

5th Edition Of Barcelona´s Museum Night

May 11th, 2009

On Saturday the 16th of May the 5th edition of Europe´s museum night will be held.

Museums of Barcelona also open their doors and the entrances are free. Most of them are open till 00:00 and some of them even till 1am.

So if you still haven´t seen a real Picasso or a Joan Miró make use of this special night!

For a complete list of the museums you can visit the website of La noche de los museos.