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Around 1900, Barcelona evolved into one of Europe’s most dynamic cultural centers. Amid industrial progress, the city’s rapid growth, and significant social conflicts, Catalan Modernisme emerged—an extraordinary artistic movement that encompassed architecture, painting, design, and literature. The innovative scene was characterized by contrasting styles. It focused on the relationship between traditional aspects and modern impulses, the search for a Catalan identity, and the continuous development of iconic achievements of Spanish culture.

The exhibition Barcelona moderna: From Gaudí to Picasso explores this unique cultural environment for the first time in Germany, shedding light on the city’s artistic developments between 1880 and 1914. Featuring around 140 paintings, works on paper, objects, furniture, and architectural models the exhibition situates the art of the period within Barcelona’s social and historical context. Alongside well-known figures such as Antoni Gaudí and the young Pablo Picasso, the elaborately staged presentation offers an opportunity to rediscover numerous outstanding artists who remain little known in Germany—including architects Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, as well as painters Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Ramon Casas, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, and Santiago Rusiñol.

This exhibition is a collaboration between the Kunsthalle München and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam.