Exhibition “Picasso’s Barceloneta. 1895-1904”

On the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso’s death, the CB1761 is organising a photographic exhibition of Barceloneta during the period when the artist lived in the city. The exhibition takes a look at Barceloneta at the end of the century: urban changes, trades, commerce, leisure and its people. Based on these snapshots, the exhibition portrays the neighbourhood and establishes a dialogue with the artist’s works from the same period produced in the same setting. The last years of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when Picasso lived in the city, were marked by an unprecedented boom in the field of navigation. The arrival of steamships replaced wooden and sailing boats. This change marked a turning point in shipbuilding and, therefore, in the economy and living conditions of the inhabitants of Barceloneta.

That seafront formed part of Picasso’s usual itineraries, which went from the Moll de la Barceloneta at Plaça Palau, the Moll de la Madera, Passeig Colón, Portal de la Pau and Drassanes. There is also evidence of his stays on the beaches, the mussel farms and his visits to the Torín bullring in La Barceloneta. All these locations, very close to his homes, are reflected in his drawings and paintings of those years.