The MNAC takes the street

The Museum of National Art of Catalunya (MNAC) has turned the streets of Barcelona into a giant outdoor art gallery. From now until the 30th of November you can see exact digital replicas of 33 of great works from the great museum´s permanent collection.
Strolling down the Avenida Diagonal, the Rambla de Catalunya, the Paseo de Gracia, or right across the Ramblas in the Gothic Quarter you can search the walls and nooks and crannies of Barcelona for reproductions of iconic works of Toulouse-Lautrec, Dali, Velazquez, and Picasso and the list goes on and on. It all gives you the feeling of strolling through a large open-air museum.
Our personal favorites here at the hotel are “The tandem bicycle” and “the car”, two emblematic paintings by the great Catalan modernist painter, Ramon Casas. They used to adorn the walls of Els Quatre Gats, one of Picasso's old haunts, and are found near the historic bar-restaurant and very close to the hotel.
The MNAC is in the mood for celebrating; its 75th birthday is the perfect excuse for something really big, like entering into an artistic “dialog with the city.” Providing the technology is HP Latex which developed the cutting-edge printing innovations in nearby San Cugat. Their high-resolution graphics for outdoor display puts them in the vanguard of green technology. It is one of their innovations to reduce our carbon footprint. They've done similar shows in New York and London and now it´s Barcelona's turn.
So come to Barcelona, download the map and check out this innovative exhibit which takes great art right to the streets.
For more info check out here.

Miquel Barceló season

Barcelona will feature two exhibits of the internationally-famous Mallorcan painter Miquel Barceló going on until January 6. Just up the Ramblas from the hotel on the Ramblas at the Centre d’Art Santa Monica will be the enigmatically named "Miquel Barceló before Barceló, 1973-1982". This will end on September 25 and cover the artist’s early works. Then Caixa Forum will take over with a monster exhibit of the whole range of his constantly innovative, mind-blowing works. This will go on til January 9 and will be the largest Barceló exhibit ever displayed in Catalunya. It is also somewhat enigmatic, called a "retrospective", despite the fact that Miquel is very much still very much with us.
These two shows will cover all his many artistic periods. Barceló has always been creative and provocative, original and personal. He is constantly experimenting with new media and abundant materials. You will see his earlier abstract impressionist paintings; his illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy; his later series of portraits, including his self portrait as a gorilla and his portrait of a tomato. You will follow his artistic odyssey through Paris, New York, and the west African deserts of Mali, but perceive that Mediterreanean mystic core that has always stayed with him.
Artistic controversy has always followed Barceló around. Even as a 1970’s Barcelona art student he would return to his native Mallorca to take part in the protests and happenings of the conceptual vanguard group "Taller lunatic", the lunatic workshop. He has carved out sculptures using his own body in front of live audiences at his "live art performances". He was early into the ecological movement, trying to prevent biological degradation; Man and Nature is one of his recurring themes.
Two of his more recent major public art works have polemical. He helped renovate the cathedral in Mallorca with a flamboyant envelope-pushing 300-square-meter terra-cotta clay vision of Jesus multiplying the loaves and the fishes which has been compared to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. He has painted the ceiling of one of the United Nations halls with what has been called the "new Sistine Chapel", a spiritual "metaphor of the world" which features seas and curves and hanging paint.
His work is amazing and I personally am really looking forward to putting in some serious time at these two shows and we at the hotel can help you find your way there, too.

MACBA Museum... better at night

If you are the kind of person who likes to enjoy the sun as much as possible, why not to let the culture activities for the night? During the summer, the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) will remain open until midnight all the thursday and fridays (till September 23th).

The MACBA's nocturnal summer program includes its regular guided tours (in spanish and catalan) as well as a series of special activities related to the Dorothee and Konrad Fischer and Benet Rossell exhibitions.

Besides the temporary exhibitions, you will enjoy of the MACBA's permanent collection, which starts in roughly 1950. It consists of many works from Catalan, Spanish and International artists. Though not an anthology, it is a thorough overview of the fundamental aspects of Contemporary Art which hopes to promote both exercises and education in critical memory. The admission costs 5 Euros.

For a special dinner, the bar located on the Museum's First Floor terrace will remain open on Museum hours. Catering is provided by Azulius Temporary Bar and the space was designed by hop! design. Bookings can be made by telephone (+34 667 643 963) or email temporary@azulius.com.