A 2 ½ HR STROLL AND A VERMOUTH IN PICASSO’S BARCELONA
It has been claimed that art is an expression of society. This has sometimes been the case, but Picasso’s art is that of a particular man. A powerful man, of exceptional temperament, energy and virility; passionate, ardent, restless and frenetically creative; insolent and proud in public, yet warm-hearted and jovial in private life; a prodigious creator yet at heart a fierce negator, full of sarcasms and challenges.
Whether in painting, engraving, sculpture or ceramics, the manifold and ever-changing work of Picasso are part of this fascinating image, and it was in the old city of Barcelona that it started to form and develop.
As Picasso himself said: “There is where it all began…There is where I understood how far I could go”.
I hence designed this tour to give us a glimpse into Picasso’s Barcelona, where he lived and worked as a young budding artist; the places he frequented and the people he met; his inspiration from street life, architecture, cabarets, brothels, the Mediterranean, trends, war, emotions… Art that revealed those exciting years when Catalonia was enjoying a rebirth marked by an artistic and cultural boom, but also torn between social and political tensions. We will also stop to have a “vermut” at Els Quatre Gats, Picasso’s favourite hang out, and end at the Picasso Museum.
Ultimately, it will show us the fascinating creative evolution from his early academic training to the consolidation of his own style; from an art typical from the nineteenth century to an avant-garde fully embedded in the twentieth century.
