Home to one of Barcelona’s few free museums, Caixaforum, Casaramona is art in its own right: an architectural gem of Modernisme, which no guide to the city should leave out.
Read the rest of this entry »
War and (Art) Piece
15/01/2011
A free art route links two old Barcelona neighbourhoods—la Ribera and Barceloneta—using sculpture and installations to commemorate their historical association, forged in 1714 from Catalonia’s defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Read the rest of this entry »
Caged in the rain
06/10/2010
Taking a free stroll along Barceloneta’s Passeig Marítim, you might miss seeing one of the artworks in the exhibition Configuracions urbanes [Urban Configurations], unless you are guided where to look. It is Una habitació on sempre plou [A Room Where It Is Always Raining, 1992] by Madrid artist, Juan Muñoz.
Read the rest of this entry »
A star’s injured past
05/10/2010
Many sculptures in this free guide around Poble Nou and along Barcelona’s beaches are the result of the urban development undertaken for the 1992 Olympic Games. Eight installations of particular value were unveiled under the exhibition title Configuracions urbanes [Urban Configurations]. This is the case of l’Estel ferit [The Injured Star, 1992] by Rebecca Horn.
Read the rest of this entry »
A well-loved couple
16/09/2010
On an unguided stroll around the port, you’re likely to come across this congruent couple by Chilean artist Lautaro Díaz, another photo favourite for those interested in the free sculpture which Barcelona beaches have to offer.
Read the rest of this entry »
Comic relief where Columbus set sail
13/09/2010
A perfect place to start your art tour along the beaches as well as being a sculpture mentioned in many Barcelona guides is Barcelona’s Head by North-American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.
Read the rest of this entry »
The haunted tower
04/09/2010
The Torre de les Aigües includes a free ghost story in this guide to art in Barcelona. An early work by Josep Domènech i Estapà (1858-1917), it was commissioned when the company Sociedad Catalana para el Alumbrado de Gas—later Catalana de Gas—expanded its facilities to include a 45-m high water tower.
Read the rest of this entry »
Marieta of those lively eyes
03/07/2010
Barcelona’s Montjuïc Mountain will unearth a trove of art. It has always been a popular excursion for the residents of Sants and Poble Sec neighbourhoods, its free mineral springs attracting large Sunday picnic crowds throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The mountain is dotted with many of these springs—works of art themselves—but none so renowned as the Font del Gat [spring of the cat] in the Laribal Gardens.
Read the rest of this entry »
Back to the future in 1929…
03/07/2010
A striking architectural vision in this guide to free art —possibly after visiting the gardens of Laribal further up Montjuïc— technically not quite free yet still integral to the city: the Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. While the entrance fee is minimal, we think it should be free! Though you can gain some appreciation of the pavilion’s clean design even if you remain outside, going inside is well worth it.
Read the rest of this entry »
In search of the perfect backdrop
16/06/2010
Our route of free art continues from David and Goliath, to the nearby plaça dels Voluntaris, where Robert Llimós’s sculpture Frame, like Botero’s Cat, attracts constant attention: kids to clamber over it and couples to pose for the typical Barcelona snapshot. Yet its inauguration attracted no less controversy.
Read the rest of this entry »
