Reviews
Surrealism and Objects: an obscure relation of desire
The exhibition “Objects of Desire. Surrealism and Design, 1924-2020”, at CaixaForum Barcelona, tells us how the design of objects has borrowed influences, ideas, delusions and obsessions from surrealism.
Modest Urgell, finally over the horizon
As part of the events for the centenary year of his death, the Museum of Art of Girona presents Modest Urgell (Barcelona, 1839-1919), with all his complexity and contradictions.
Life in modern cities
The exhibition “Camera and City. Urban Life in Photography and Film” at the CaixaForum Barcelona brings together 244 pieces by 80 photographers and filmmakers, made between 1910 and 2010. Together they form a kind of visual essay or reflection through still and moving images.
Museum of the Empordà: Disquieting de Juana
Pasear por la última exposición de Eudald de Juana en el Museu de l’Empordà (Figueres) es como transitar un sueño; da la sensación de que sus esculturas nos observan y que, de repente, sean capaces de desvanecerse.
Museum of La Garrotxa: exhibiting is participating
The Museum of La Garrotxa, in Olot, has organized an exposition in which the neighbors choose the pieces to exhibit.
Museum of Lleida: reclaiming the Baroque
The Museum of Lleida has undertaken a makeover of its Renaissance and Baroque halls. This has offered the chance to do justice to and get a better understanding of the Catalan Baroque which has so far been the subject of little public knowledge.
Papanek, Design, Politics and Militant DIY
The Barcelona Design Museum shows a large retrospective centred on the designer, theorist and activist Victor Papanek (1923-1998).
Llorenç Balsach: when Sabadell was at the centre of culture
The Museu d’Art de Sabadell devotes a revealing exhibition to the figure of Llorenç Balsach Grau (1922-1993), industrialist, painter, patron and collector.
Mirador Gallery: Catalonia as a mirage
A exhibition at the Apel·les Fenosa Foundation in El Vendrell recuperates the memory of the Mirador gallery in Paris – a space for Catalan culture in exile in post-war Paris.
Abyss or Refuge?
The exhibition Freefall at the CaixaForum Barcelona explores the situation of uncertainty, concern and sometimes even panic which many people are suffering during these times of structural crisis.
Joaquim Capdevila: precious metals as artistic expression
Joaquim Capdevila has reinvented jewels as a means of artistic expression. The Design Museum of Barcelona is showing a retrospective.
The Magic Tricks of Bill Viola
The art of Bill Viola (Nova York, 1951) has got a hypnotic quality so intense that it fascinates and annoys in equal measure: the same is true for the mystical and spiritual substrata of his work.
The Opera Makes History
CaixaForum Barcelona tells us the story of modern Europe through eight operas. This is a high fidelity exhibition that has to be visited using the audio guide.
Shadow, Splendour and Melancholy in Catalan Art
The exhibition “Realism(s) in Catalonia 1917-1936” explores how some artists opted for a renovation of their artistic language without renouncing figuration.
The Enigma of Visibility
”la Caixa” exhibits its collection of contemporary paintings.
Prince, nothing compares to the original
Prince once said that with all the unpublished material in his mythical musical and visual ‘vault’ he could make an album a year for a century.
Miró-Gaudí-Gomis: when looks cross
This exhibition, which has been organised using the collection of foundation, looks at the aesthetic and creative affinities of Gaudí and Miró as seen through the Joaquim Gomis.
Frank Horvat: “Please don’t smile”
The Espais Volart of the Vila Casas Foundation is showing “Please don’t smile”, by the photographer Frank Horvat who, having worked relentlessly during his professional life, now offers a collection of photographs taken in the field of fashion in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Renau: art and revolution
The anthological exhibition by Valencian Josep Renau (1907-1982) – poster-maker for the revolution – arrives in Barcelona. Introducing the international avant-gardes to Spain in the 1920s and 30s and a reference for the Catalan left in the 1970s, his criticism of American society is alarmingly modern.
Gino Rubert: Altarpieces and Earthly Delights of the 21st Century
Gino Rubert’s new exhibition at Galería Senda succeeds in transmitting an exceptional sensation of freedom.
Two Geniuses Face to Face: Fages and Dalí
You can never really read the work of Salvador Dalí without knowing the literary legacy of Carles Fages de Climent. This is shown by Dalí expert Josep Playà in his book, “Fages Dalí, geniuses and friends”.
The Polyptych of the Vallès
“Vallès: manufacturing pasts, manufacturing futures” is a project in which Claudio Zulian uses the memory of the working class of the county of Vallès – an area historically and politically affiliated to the so-called “red belt” of Barcelona.
In the name of Picasso
This show in the Barcelona museum reinterprets the different facets of the artist from the point of view of ten contemporary creators. The political Picasso, the passionate Picasso and the intellectual Picasso, all covered in the story which unfolds under the curatorship of Rosa Martinez.
Lluís Hortalà or the trickery of the gaze
When you visit the Lluís Hortalà exhibition at Tecla Sala in L’Hospitalet you have to be ready for a double set of rules: those of the eye, subjected to the logical trickery of trompe-l’oeil, and those of the concept, articulated in the solid story about the exhibition by Oriol Fontdevila. But one step at a time.