In PICASSO’S FOOTSTEP
Journalist Oonagh Turner discovers Pablo Picasso’s personal connections with the Spanish cities of Malaga, the artist’s birthplace, and Barcelona, where he spent his formative years Top to bottom: A panoramic view of Malaga and beyond; Pablo Picasso in his studio
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aking waves in the art world from the turn of the 19th Century, Pablo Picasso has long been regarded as one of the world’s most influential artists, playing a pivotal role in the Cubist movement and aiding the development of a plethora of fascinating artistic styles. While Picasso’s career inevitably took him, like so many other young artists of the time, to the then art capital, Paris, Picasso’s life also played out extensively in Spain. Picasso was born in Malaga before moving to Barcelona and living here from the ages of 14 to 24. The two cities were instrumental in shaping his art and even today, they continue to remain synonymous with his legacy.
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long-standing connections to the thriving Barcelona art scene and to Picasso. The artist presented his first commercial gallery exhibition here in 1901 at just 20 years of age with a selection of delicate pastel drawings. The gallery went on to put on the joint exhibition with the Catalan portraitist, Ramon Casas, who documented the lives of Barcelona’s political and intellectual elite. The gallery sits in the heart of the Gothic Quarter and makes for a cultural break from wandering the district’s cobbled backstreets.
BARCELONA SALA PARÉS
Established in 1877, Sala Parés remains one of the oldest art galleries in the world, and has
ELS QUATRE GATS
The Spanish answer to Paris’s Le Chat Noir, this late 19th century cultural cafe was initially a spot for artistic and intellectual liaisons and a meeting point for the city’s most prominent modernist figures.
