Barcelona has long been on my bucket list, and at the end of October, we were lucky enough to spend five days there in glorious sunshine getting to know the city and seeing all the art and architecture.
It was the perfect opportunity to see what Barcelona had to offer. The whole city felt like an art exhibition with the Gaudi architecture, the different areas to visit and of course the many museums.
No trip to Barcelona is complete without a visit to the incredible La Sagrada Familia. It towers over the Barcelona skyline. This extraordinary cathedral was designed by Antoni Gaudi. Construction began in 1882 and still continues today.
Gaudi’s architectural vision for the cathedral combines Gothic, Art Nouveau and Modernist styles – it’s nuts, but in a good way! I was in awe of its enormous proportions. We went up the south tower which had staggering views of Barcelona but was very high!
We visited the Casa Vicens, Gaudi’s first house built between 1883 and 1885 as the summer house for the Vicens family. It’s a fantastic example of his work, resplendent with such colour and beautiful ornate tiles.
And of course Barcelona has many museums to visit. Firstly, we went to the Picasso Museum followed by the Joan Miró Foundation which had an exhibition of Miró and Picasso which was fascinating.
I loved seeing the modern art at the Moco Museum, which was founded to attract a younger audience and make art more accessible to the public. Our favourite museum of art was the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya which houses over 1000 years of Catalan visual art and is one of the largest museums in Spain.
It was wonderful to wander through the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter of the Ciutat Vella (‘Old City’). We found the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, a small square with an octagonal fountain that takes its name from the church there. The square was badly bombed in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War when Franco laid siege to the city of Barcelona. We also saw the Temple d’August, four Roman columns over 2000 years old tucked away in a small medieval courtyard.
We stopped by a cafe called Els Quatre Gats that was frequented by famous modernist artists including Picasso, and where he had his very first exhibition in a back room.
Later, we found a fantastic food market off La Rambla called the Mercat de la Boqueria where I was tempted by all sorts of wonderful food produce.
The energy and vibrancy of Barcelona was really inspiring and there was just so much to see. I can’t wait to go back! It is study trips like this that help keep the artistic mind inspired. I have already taken some of the mark making and textures seen into recent works such as Lioness Head 2023.
