New art galleries in Barcelona

Barcelona, like any cosmopolitan city, has a wide range of museums, galleries and street spaces where you can contemplate and buy art. This past year we have been fortunate to have two outstanding openings in this regard, and it is our pleasure to share them with our guests.

We begin by talking about Palau Martorell. It is a new exhibition hall located in front of the Plaça de la Mercè, C/Ample, 11. This square is located very close to the statue of Columbus, between Las Ramblas and Via Laietana, and can be reached in 5 minutes from the Drassanes metro station, this visit is worth it just to see the palace. It is a neoclassical building built by the architect Joan Martorell y Montells between 1886 and 1900, to be the headquarters of the Antigua Sociedad del Crédito Mercantil, but then it was also the Bank of Barcelona and even the headquarters of the design school Elisava.

The palace is a large building, which highlights a beautiful skylight with a spectacular stained glass window on the ceiling, as well as the main hall with huge Doric columns and a noble room worthy of a French palace, with frescoes on the ceiling and coffered walls.

 

 

As for the exhibitions, right now they have two, one of them dedicated to the painter Joaquín Sorolla, which serves as a tribute in the year of his centenary. Its title is Sorolla. Cazando Impresiones and consists of almost 200 small format paintings that the painter called “sketches”, “stains”, or “color notes”, which are made on wooden boards or cardboard. The works come from the Sorolla Museum and the Sorolla Museum Foundation.

 

 

The other exhibition, more familiar in tone, is Clicks Los Mundos de Playmobil. This exhibition gathers more than 5,000 Playmobil click figures distributed in 10 dioramas representing scenes such as the African savannah, the world of the circus, the Rambla of Barcelona, the Middle Earth of the Hobbits, the Viking world or a day on the farm among others. Let no one tell us that this visit is only for children, we are sure that among adults there are many fans of these little dolls who will be delighted to see this exhibition.

 

 

Once you are there, of course we recommend that you also visit the church of La Mercè which is right in front of the Palau, you will love it.

The next new room is the Moco Museum, which already had a branch in Amsterdam and recently opened one in Barcelona. His exhibitions focus on modern, contemporary and street art. They feature artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy, JR, KAWS, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Yayoi Kusama, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Studio Irma and others. As they themselves state their goal is to offer visitors a unique collection of art to reflect on modern society.

 

The Moco Museum now has four permanent exhibitions, including one dedicated to Banksy, focusing on contemporary and emerging masters.As with the Palau Martorell, the space that houses the Moco Museum is worth a visit by itself, as it is located in the Palau dels Cervelló C / Montcada 25.This building was built during the sixteenth century, using parts of a previous construction, from the fifteenth century, and was the residence of the noble family that bears his name.

 

 

The building is articulated around the inner courtyard, where there is the covered staircase, with rampant arches. It is in this part of the house where there are more elements of the previous century, columns, capitals or moldings, Renaissance type.the facade, Gothic, is one of the best in the street, made with perfectly squared stone ashlars. This Catalan mansion had previously been home to other art spaces such as the Maeght gallery and later the Fundació Gaspar, which also hosted collections of contemporary artists.you can access the Moco Museum from the Jaume I metro stop. A few meters away are the Picasso Museum and the moving Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, two other must-see attractions if you visit the area.

 

 

The truth is that both art galleries are relatively close to each other, you can make the tour strolling through the Gothic quarter of Barcelona. You already know that from Blanc Guest House we always recommend you to walk or use public transportation to move around the city.