Art exhibitions not to miss this autumn in Barcelona

Autumn has arrived and with it shorter days and cooler weather. It’s time to take jackets and scarves from the wardrobe and go out on the streets to enjoy the beautiful colors and aromas that the new season gives us. One of our favorite things to do at this time of the year is spending a Saturday morning strolling around the city to end up visiting any of Barcelona’s amazing art exhibitions. Admiring artistic creations is one of those things that awaken our creativity to later create new scents that truly evoke emotions. So, these are the exhibitions that we will not miss this autumn in Barcelona: Picasso – Picabia: Fundación Mapfre covers Pablo Picasso and Francis Picabia, two fundamental pillars of the art of the 20th Century, through their emotional and real ties. With cubism as starting point the exhibition moves towards Dada movement and the later return to classicism, finishing with a selection of tha latests Works of both artists: Picasso and his efforts to work the figure. Picabia and his monochromatic stained linens.

Where: La Fundación Mapfre

World Press Photo: As in each year at around this date CCCB opens the annual exhibition called World Press Photo which, under the motto “Connecting the world to the stories that matter”, has grown into the world’s most prestigious photography competition. WPP showcases stories that make people stop, feel, think and act. The non-profit organization encourages diverse accounts of the world that present stories with different perspectives. They exhibit those stories to a worldwide audience, educate the profession and the public on their making, and encourage debate on their meaning. WWP is a global platform connecting professionals and audiences through trustworthy visual journalism and storytelling.

Where: CCCB

Toulouse-Lautrec and the spirit of Montmatre: This is not a retrospective about Toulouse-Lautrec, but an exhibition with Montmartre as main scenario. Lautrec is the guiding thread because he was capable of capturing its free and bohemian spirit: it was in Montmartre where artists coup of grace to the academic art. Do not expect huge linens by Lautrec, but Montatre’s spirit through more tan 300 pieces –some from Lautrec but most of them from peers – posters, illustrations, impressions and designs where graphics where images and texts create the whole creativity in a scenography that submerges us to that period where the theater and the shadow play, that “Le Chat Noir” popularized.

Where: Caixa Forum

Lee Miller and surrealism in Great Britain: The exhibition claims the outstanding and full of creativity work of (Elizabeth) Miller as a surrealist photographer. Through her figure the exhibition approaches us to her work and the British surrealist thoughts, through paintings, sculptures and photographies by other artists such as Man Ray, Paul Nash, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Max Ernst, Henry Moore, Leonora Carrington or Miller herself. Miller was known for being Picasso’s muse, she was portrayed by the painter six times, the most relevant piece called “Potrait of Lee Miller as L’Arlésienne”, dates from in 1937. She was also muse (and lover) of Man Ray, so she was very used to be surrounded by great artists. Many people also know her for the photojournalism exercise she covered during the war. However, it was her son who, without knowing anything about his mother’s photographic career, found by chance a bunch of boxes with more than 60,000 negative photos, 20,000 impressions, contact papers and all kind of documents. Today, we are the fortunate ones who can enjoy this facet of Miller, contextualized with some art pieces of those who surrounded this enigmatic woman.

Where: La Fundació Miró

Open world. Art in movement 1955-1975: The art in movement burst in the 50s and 60s escaping from the traditional paint and sculpture and the conventional object. Kinetism explores space and light through movement, real or as an optical illusion: the optical art. The artist approached us to a vision of the world in constant change and movement, more relevant than ever, and promotes a profound transformation of the rol of the spectator, giving him/her an active role through the interaction with the work. A total of 37 iconic artists of kinetic art, including Alexander Calder’s mobiles, whose components move randomly thanks to air and the change of temperature, or the Op art; the optical painting representing Works with a subtle relief, a third dimension, that seems to move as the spectator changes position. These art pieces change and are subject to the observer’s interpretation and participation. Umberto Eco theorized about this artistic movement in 1962: the metaphor of a new vision of the world where reality is felt as unstable, ambiguous and in constant change.

Where: Exhibitions room at La Pedrera

Stanley Kubrik: Stanley Kubrick’s mind was a perfectionist brain, completely neurotic. He expressed himself using a very calm voice in “Hal 9000” but had Jack Nicholson’s eyes behind holding an axe. He was obsessed with the white spaceship that drug across the planets as a cosmic warm in “2001. A space odyssey”, with the milky white figures from “Korova Milk Bar” and the dancing Christs from “Alex DeLarge’s room”. He was obsessed with the red carpet of “Hotel Overlook” and the lollipop that leaked Lolita. He was obsessed with the hurricane of bills as furious butterflies in the airport of 'The killing'. In short, the exhibition is simply outstanding, a driveway to the genius’ obsessive mind.

Where: CCCB