Catalan Modernism & Avant-Garde Art: Picasso and Dalí

Posted on Feb 19, 2025 in Arts and Humanities

Lluís Domènech i Montaner (1850-1923)

Architect, Designer, Illustrator

Interested in archeology and history, President of the Ateneu Barcelonès, and Conservative Catalan politician.

  • Hospital de Sant Pau
  • Palau de la Música Catalana
  • Casa Fuster

Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956)

Architect and Politician

President of the Mancomunitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia), Director of archaeological excavations in Empúries, and Pioneer of the safeguard of Romanesque art.

  • Casa Ametller
  • Casa de les Punxes
  • Pavellons d’Alfons XIII and Eugenia
  • The Four Columns (MNAC)

The Four Columns, representing the Catalan flag in front of the MNAC, were destroyed during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and recovered in 2011.

Modernist Architecture in Catalonia

Creating a modern image blending cosmopolitism and Catalan identity. Open to the world and new ideas while preserving its unique character. Modernity expressed through original styles and construction techniques. Catalan identity shown by reviving traditional crafts like ceramics (“trencadís”), wrought iron, and stained glass. Buildings as total works of art.

Picasso and Dalí: Avant-Garde Art

Born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Avant-Garde art directly opposed official art, rejecting academicism, hypocrisy, and the bourgeoisie’s social role of art. Art and life are inseparable.

Avant-garde encompasses various movements: Fauvism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, etc. Each movement has a manifesto outlining art’s relationship with society, some linked to new political ideologies like communism and fascism. This marked the end of meticulous, rule-bound art of the 19th century. Art ceased copying reality, leaving that to photography and cinema.

Picasso: Cubism

Cubism challenged Renaissance perspective and viewpoints, introducing simultaneous vision, representing multiple perspectives at once. A formalistic art style without symbolic content, influenced by African art and Cézanne. Main painters: Picasso, Gris, and Braque.

Picasso, the most influential 20th-century artist (never fully abstract):

  • 1901-04: Blue Period
  • 1904-06: Rose Period
  • 1907-15: Cubism
  • 1920-24: Neoclassicism
  • 1926: Surrealism (influenced by Joan Miró)
  • 1937: Guernica (unclassifiable afterward)

Guernica

Gernika, a small Basque town, has been the symbolic heart of Basque autonomy since the Middle Ages, represented by the oak tree, Árbol de Gernika. Bombed by Nazis in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, Picasso painted Guernica for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World Exposition in Paris.

Guernica, an artistic, historical, and social icon:

  • 1939-1981: Exhibited at MOMA (New York)
  • 1981-1992: Museo del Prado (Madrid)
  • Since 1992: Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid)

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s request to display Guernica was denied by Madrid authorities due to security and technical reasons.