"Barcelona and Modernity" at the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Review

As eager as I have been to return to the Cleveland Museum of Art, after it's having been closed for over nine months, I was also a little concerned that the new Barcelona and Modernity exhibit would fall short of my expectations, especially after the enormous publicity the exhibit has received. I shouldn't have worried.

The comprehensive exhibit, which occupies the second floor gallery space that formerly housed the museum's 19th century art collection, is divided into nine sections, beginning with Rebirth: Catalan Renaixenca; continuing with Modernisme, Noucentisme, and Avant-gardism; and concluding with the artistic response to the Spanish Civil War.

As you enter the exhibit, you are immediately struck by the contrast of the largely dark art with the warm, sienna-colored walls. The over 350 works featured include the expected "important" pieces (such as Dali's La Reve pictured above), but the most pleasant surprise is the unexpected artworks and their depth. Barcelona! includes a large number of commercial art pieces -- magazine covers, business signs, bookcovers, and handbills -- even a delightful early Picasso mobile of two cats, made as an advertisement for the turn-of-the-century Barcelona artists' hang-out Quatre Gats (four cats).

Other surprises include works by lesser-known artists, such as Aquarium by Santiago Rusinol -- a sad, yet moving depiction of the French brothels on Montmartre (called aquariums in Parisian slang); several portraits of gypsies by Isidre Nonell; and a completely reconstructed Art Nouveau salon, with furniture designed by Joan Busquets.

More than just paintings, the exhibit offers architectural models, textiles, clothing, jewelry, and a variety of decorative arts. Barcelona concludes with a somber note as Spain's artists try to express the pain, suffering, and outrage of the Civil War. There is Miro's L'Aidez Espagne (pictured at left), which was originally designed for a French postage stamp, and a photograph of Picasso's Guernica in its original installation at the 1937 French International Exposition.

Barcelona! is provocative, intriguing, and enjoyable and runs through January 7, 2007. Admission is $12 on weekdays and $15 on Saturdays and Sundays. Discounts are offered for those over 65 and between 6 and 18. Children under 6 and museum members enter free.

The parking lot adjacent to the museum is open during the exhibit as is the museum store (loaded with lots of interesting Barcelona-themed gifts) and the museum cafe.

For a preview of the exhibit, see this photo gallery of nineteen of the show's works.

^{(La Reve© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/ARS, New York)
(L'Aidez Espagne © 2005 Metropolitan Museum of Art/Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art)}