I don’t know about your travelling habits, but I like to visit the local art museum whenever I happen to be in a place for the first time. That is, at least one of them. But Barcelona is a bit different than other places, so I can totally understand if, coming here for a city break or a holiday, you don’t have enough time for everything: getting that perfect tan, hitting the posh rooftop bars, checking all the Gaudís off your list AND visit the tenths of interesting museums? Yeah, I know, impossible!
But fear no more, dear traveller, because there’s plenty of free art, and I’m talking fine Catalan quality, literally in your face!
Right outside the airport there’s this 50 meter-long ceramic mural on the wall of Terminal 2. Joan Míro, the Barcelona-born artist, created this impressive mural in collaboration with ceramicist Josep Llorens in 1970 and donated to the city.
Actually, Míro’s idea, as an homage to Barcelona, was to welcome all travellers, no matter how they arrive in the city: by air, by sea or by land.
Let’s say you come by sea (and how cool is that?!), right on La Rambla, very close to La Boqueria, on Pla de l’Os, there’s a circular mosaic from 1976 you’ll probably step on without even realizing it’s a piece of art. That’s no problem, it is what the artist actually wanted, for passers-by to walk over it.
If we move further, in Parc Joan Míro, close to Plaça España, there’s no way you can miss a giant sculpture called Dona i Ocell (Woman and Bird), a recurring theme in the artist’s work. This is supposed to greet those arriving in the city by car and it was opened to the public in 1983.
You can’t help noticing there are lots (LOTS!) of graffitis in Barcelona, but did you know one of the first - and still standing - belongs to Picasso? In 1955, the College of Architects of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands inaugurated a new building which features friezes designed by Pablo Picasso and executed by the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar. It stands right in front of the Barcelona Cathedral and it has a very good, atypical souvenir shop on the ground floor. (You’re welcome!)
And since we mentioned Picasso, let’s not move too far. Homenatge a Picasso (Tribute to Picasso) is a sculpture created by another famous Catalan artist, Antoni Tàpies. He was commissioned the work by the Barcelona city council in order to commemorate the centenary of Picasso’s birth in 1881. You can admire the sculpture on Passeig de Picasso, the avenue that separates El Born neighbourhood from Ciutadella Park.
These are only a few of the works of art you can admire for free, and I only mentioned local artists, but you won’t want to stop here, there are plenty more, because, yes! many of them artists loved this city: there’s Fernando Botero’s huge cat sculpture in Raval, Frank Gehry’s fish right by the sea, Keith Haring’s mural next to The Museum of Contemporary Art or Roy Lichtenstein’s Barcelona Face in Port Vell, and so on.
Oh, and just remember that most museums are free on the first Sunday of the month and all Sunday afternoons, so maybe check one out before you meet your friends for a glass of vermouth?
(photos from www.elprat.cat, barcelonaturisme.com, ajuntament.barcelona.cat, catalunya.com )
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