Art Tour to Spain – Barcelona: From Gaudí to Miró

Barcelona is the heart and soul of Cataluña, and, with one of Spain's largest ports, has grown through trade and tourism. The city is characterized by the work of Antonio Gaudí, whose unique worldview created some of Europe’s most distinctive architecture. This beautiful city charms visitors at every turn with its vibrant spirit.

We will walk from the square to the waterfront, passing a parade of street life, performance artists, flower stalls, cafés, markets and bird stalls.

We will have the opportunity to ascend the Mirador, a monument to Christopher Columbus that was erected at the Barcelona harbor for the Universal Exhibition of 1888, where we will enjoy a panoramic view of Barcelona and its harbor.

We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant in Las Ramblas area, Barcelona's most colorful and interesting street.

Barri Gòtic

Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic or Gothic Quarter contains the oldest parts of the city, including remains of the city’s Roman wall. Many of the Barri Gòtic’s landmark buildings, however, were reconstructed in the late 19th and early 20th century.

A few highlights of the walk will include the Plaça del Pi, the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, and the magnificent Plaça Sant Jaume.

The three naves, cleaned and illuminated, have splendid Gothic details, and the large bell towers perfectly blend medieval and Renaissance styles. The beautiful cloister, high altar, side chapels, sculptured choir, and Gothic arches highlight one of the most impressive cathedrals in Spain.

Pablo Picasso donated nearly 2,500 of his paintings, engravings and drawings to the museum in 1970. Picasso was particularly fond of Barcelona, the city where he spent much of his formative youth and many of the works in the collection show the artist's debt to van Gogh, El Greco, Rembrandt, and Velázquez.

Discuss Pablo Picasso's life and his global influence on the abstract art movement. Focus on History and the Arts.

Relax at Barcelona's most formal and historic park. Today, lakes, gardens, museums and promenades fill most of the park. Gaudí contributed to the monumental, Italianate fountain in the park when he was a student; the lampposts are also his.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Experience the cathedral of La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudí's incomplete masterpiece and one of the more distinctive creations of Spain.

This area has been named the world's greatest living museum of turn-of-the-century architecture. Our tour will highlight many of the key buildings, including Casa Batlló, designed by Gaudí in 1905; and La Manzana de la Discordia, the ultimate modernista building.

This is the most famous apartment-house complex in Spain. Antoni Gaudí’s imagination went wild when planning its construction, even including vegetable and fruit shapes in his sculptural designs. Ascend to the rooftop, filled with unique chimneys known in Spanish as espantabrujas (witch-scarers), which affords a view of Gaudí’s La Sagrada Familia and the L’Eixample area of the city. We will also visit the Espai Gaudí in the attic, which features an intriguing multimedia display of the works of the controversial artist.

Designed primarily by Gaudí, particularly interesting areas of the park include a mosaic pagoda, a lizard fountain spitting water, an undulating bench decorated with ceramic fragments, and an array of unique Doric columns, which are hollow and serve as part of Gaudí's drainage system.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Antoni Gaudí and La Sagrada Familia

Construction of Gaudí’s masterpiece, the unfinished Sagrada Familia, began in 1882 and he continued to work on it until his death in 1926. Efforts to complete the cathedral continue with the hope that is will be finished by 2026, the 100-year anniversary of Gaudi’s death.

 

A former fishing village that was once only accessible by sea, Cadaqués sits on the far North-East of Spain, in Catalonia. It is right on the edge of the Cap de Creus Peninsula, where the Pyrenees mountains meet the sea, just south of the French border.

The internationally known artist Salvador Dalí was as famous for his surrealist imagery as he was for his flamboyance and exhibitionism. The museum displays his distinctive paintings, watercolors, gouaches, charcoals, and pastels, along with graphics and sculptures.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Montjuïc features the largest "green zone" in the city with miles of forests and parks. We begin with a Funicular Ride from the Parallel Metro Stop to Miramar Avenue.

Along the way, we will pass the famous statue of La Sardana, featured on many postcards of the city, depicting the traditional Catalan dance. At the castle, we will wander along the Terraces and high points of the star-shaped fortress castle, as well as the walkways that surround it, all while enjoying breathtaking views of the Barcelona skyline and the Mediterranean.

This museum contains a collection of over 10,000 works by the Catalan surrealist, including paintings, graphics, and sculptures. An exhibition in the modern wing charts Miro's complete artistic evolution, from his first drawings at the age of eight to his last works.

This re-created Spanish village was built for the 1929 World’s Fair, and features various regional architectural styles from the Levante to Galicia. A total of 115 life-size reproductions of buildings and monuments are combined with numerous outdoor cafés and shops, which sell crafts and souvenir items from all of the provinces. There are also many artists at work printing fabric, weaving and blowing glass.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

The park's main features include an esplanade; a pond containing Miró's sculpture Woman and Bird; palm, pine and eucalyptus trees; and a variety of playgrounds and pergolas.

Immerse yourself in the art that defines the passion of historic Spain. Explore the meaning and compare the techniques of artists like Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. Enrich your knowledge of art history as you debate how these and other artists defined cultural divisions through Spanish history.

Explore the most outstanding contribution of the modernista movement. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997, it was designed by Luis Domènech i Montaner, a contemporary of Gaudí’s, as a riot of symbolism and a feast for the senses.

The museum contains an extensive collection of art ranging from the 14th to the 20th centuries, and is the world’s most important center of Romanesque art. We will also see works by Huguet; the primary artist in the Catalan School, Rubens, El Greco, Goya, Gaudí, Homar, Clara and Busquets.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.