Picasso’s Barcelona: in the footsteps of the artist as a
young man
Fifty years after his death, the city where Picasso spent his teenage years now offers
vital insights into his life and work
Stephen Burgen Tue 6 Feb 2024 08.00 CET
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Málaga and spent most of his life in France, but it was
arguably in Barcelona that his evolution as the most celebrated artist of the 20th
century began.
The family moved to Barcelona in 1895 when Picasso was 13 and he lived and studied
there for nine years before heading to Paris in 1904.
Picasso’s first home in the city was in the Porxos d’en Xifré, a large block near the port
which also houses the restaurant 7 Portes. The building is across the street from La
Llotja, the old stock exchange building which was home to the School of Fine Arts,
which the artist attended from the age of 13.
Much of what is modern Barcelona was still under construction at the time and Picasso
spent most of his life in Ciutat Vella, the old town.
Pablo Picasso and Olga Khokhlova.
There are several early works depicting locations within a stone’s throw of La Llotja,
among them the Moll dels Pescadors, the basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, Barceloneta
beach and the home in Carrer de la Mercè, where the family moved in 1896.
Picasso’s first studio is now a restaurant and hotel in Carrer de la Plata, and the Sala
Parés in the narrow Carrer de Petritxol, where Picasso exhibited in 1901, is still in
business. Then, as now, the street was famous for chocolate and pastries: Picasso and
other artists would regularly pop out for supplies. Petritxol Xocoa is a good place to try
them. Close by is Carrer d’Avinyó, where there was a brothel (at No 44), which may be
the inspiration for Picasso’s early cubist work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The artist’s
biographer, Josep Palau i Fabre, is among those who assert the title refers to the
Barcelona street and not the French city. Picasso dismissed the theory, then fuelled the
ambiguity by saying: “You must not always believe what I say.”
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon – which
may have been inspired by a brothel that used to be on Carrer d’Avinyó.
Such sites can be explored thanks to a new book, Picasso-Barcelona: A
Cartography (Editorial Tenov SL), from which aficionados can retrace the artist’s steps
around the city and visit his favourite watering holes.
Els Quatre Gats sought to bring the Bohemian spirit of Paris to Barcelona
Written by Claustre Rafart i Planas, a former curator at the Museu Picasso in
Barcelona, the beautifully illustrated book offers a vision of Barcelona as it was then.
Its eight chapters each has a map showing the locations mentioned in the text, with a
key indicating whether they still exist or are open to visitors.
Perhaps Picasso’s most famous hangout was Els Quatre Gats, the elegant bar
designed by the Catalan modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and commissioned
by the artists Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol. It was inspired by the Parisian bar
Le Chat Noir and sought to bring the Bohemian spirit of the French capital to
Barcelona. The Catalan expression quatre gats (four cats) means “hardly anyone”.
Picasso hangout Els Quatre Gats
There are many sites on La Rambla associated with Picasso, among them the
Canaletes fountain which he sketched from memory in 1968, and the Liceu theatre and
opera house, where the Russian ballet performed in 1917. The dancers stayed at the
Hotel Ranzini on La Rambla, which Picasso visited often because he was infatuated
with Olga Khokhlova, the dancer whom he later married, despite Picasso’s mother
warning her off, saying: “I don’t believe any woman would be happy with my son.”
Outside the old town, Picasso also frequented the theatres on the Avinguda Paral·lel
and the bullrings of Las Arenas and La Monumental. Bullfighting is banned in
Catalonia, and Las Arenas is now a shopping centre, while La Monumental, where the
Rolling Stones performed in 1976, has fallen into disuse.
In 1970 Picasso donated hundreds of his works, including 236 oil paintings, to the city:
they form the basis of the Museu Picasso’s collection.
Picasso-Barcelona: A Cartography is published jointly by Barcelona City Council
and the Museu Picasso to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death. The
exhibition Miró-Picasso runs at the Fundació Miró and the Museu Picasso in
Barcelona until 25 February