Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau icon

Alphonse Mucha was one of the bestknown artists of his time, a creator and disseminator of the Art Nouveau style, a pioneer in the application of art in advertising, and one of the fathers of modern graphic design. His posters and paintings drew admiration in Paris and spawned imitators around the world. Mucha's art aspires to beauty. His elaborate compositions incorporate theatrical and allegorical elements and create an atmosphere of mystery similar to that evoked by Symbolist poetry.

Caixa Forum presents the exhibition "Seduction, modernity & utopia", dedicated to Alphonse Mucha's art in relation to four broad themes: Theatre, Beauty, Mystery and Modernity. It also focuses on four specific aspects of his oeuvre that illustrate the scope of his work: The Metropolis as Stage, Photography as Tool and as Art, The Slav Epic: A Vision, and The Spread of 'Le Style Mucha', which examines the influence of his work on Modernisme in Madrid and Barcelona.

The exhibition will be open until January 4 and the entry is free.

From Florence with love

For the first time ever you can see some of the best religious masterpieces from Florences's world-famous Uffizi Gallery right here, in Barcelona.
"El pa dels angels" (Angels bread) is made up of 45 pictures including biblical scenes immortalized by Botticceli, Luca Signorelli, Parmigianino, Luca Giurdano and other of the greatest XV, XVI and XVII century masters.
The extraordinary collection of religious art takes you an emotional, trascendental tour of Christian spirituality. Through the eyes of some history's greatest painters you revisit original sin, the annunciation, the last supper, the crucifixion and resurrection. And you follow 300 years of artistic innovation.
Caixa Forum, in colaboration with the Uffizi, will show "El pa dels Angels" until february 8th 2009. And it's completely free.

Picasso's places

We all know that Pablo Picasso spent his formative artistic years in Barcelona. El museu Picasso, the “museum to visit in Barcelona”, is located on the picturesque, aristocratic Carrer Montcada. The great Andalusian´s work is displayed in chronological order. And what a fascinating trip it is: drawings he made as an eight-year old, realistic portraits painted as a teenager, some masterpieces of the rose and blue periods, and so on.
And we at the hotel have just learned is that upon his return from Paris in 1901 Picasso lived just down the street at number 28 where, inspired by the bohemian atmosphere of the Raval, he painted many of his blue-period masterpieces. Today there is a nice little restaurant, La Biblioteca, at that address.


And speaking of eating places associated with Picasso try the iconic Els 4 Gats (The four cats). This Modernist landmark café was founded in 1897 to recreate the atmosphere of bohemian Paris and be a meeting place for Spain´s avant garde. Designed by Gaudi disciple Puig I Cadafalch Els 4 gats is now world famous because of Picasso who was a regular and had one of his first one-man shows there.


Here we would like to introduce our own painter Ferran Amezqueta. As you will remember paintings are found everywhere in the hotel: in the rooms, in the common sitting rooms, and especially on the ceiling of the breakfast room. These are originals by Ferran who is a cousin of the owner which helps the family and artistic feel of the hotel.