11 artists in the museums, in order of birthArtists to see in Barcelona
The most famous artists in the museums of Barcelona, and where to stand in front of their work: who they were, what they made, and the museum it hangs in.
- 11
- Artists, in order of birth
- 30
- Works to look for
- 3
- Museums that hold them
- 1412
- The earliest born: Jaume Huguet
Artists to see in Barcelona
Show
All 11
Painter, 1412 to 1492
Jaume Huguet
The great painter of Gothic Barcelona, whose altarpieces for the guilds and churches of the city glow with gold.
Catalan Gothic. 3 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1440 to 1501
Bartolomé Bermejo
A wandering painter from Córdoba who brought the oil painting of the Netherlands to Spain, and whose Pietà of 1490 is in Barcelona Cathedral.
Hispano-Flemish. 2 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1541 to 1614
El Greco
Barcelona has one great El Greco: the apostles Peter and Paul, side by side, in the MNAC.
Mannerism. 1 work in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1598 to 1664
Francisco de Zurbarán
Two Zurbaráns in the MNAC: a standing Saint Francis, as a pope saw his body in its tomb, and a version of his still life of four vessels.
Baroque. 2 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1599 to 1660
Diego Velázquez
In the MNAC, a Saint Paul from Velázquez's first years in Seville, painted before he went to court.
Baroque. 1 work in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1838 to 1874
Marià Fortuny
The most famous Spanish painter of his day, sent to paint the war in Morocco, celebrated in Paris for his small, brilliant scenes, and dead at thirty-six.
Realism. 4 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1861 to 1931
Santiago Rusiñol
Painter, writer and leader of Catalan modernisme, who lived with Casas above a Paris dance hall and made a house in Sitges into a temple of the arts.
Modernisme. 3 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1866 to 1932
Ramon Casas
The painter of modernista Barcelona: its cafés, its crowds and its people, drawn in charcoal one by one, and the man who paid for Els Quatre Gats.
Modernisme. 4 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter, 1872 to 1911
Isidre Nonell
The painter of Barcelona's poor, whose dark, heavy pictures of gypsy women were mocked in his lifetime and admired by the young Picasso.
Post-Impressionism. 2 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Picture: LPLT, CC BY-SA 3.0
Painter and sculptor, 1881 to 1973
Pablo Picasso
Barcelona is where Picasso became a painter. The Picasso Museum, in five palaces of the Carrer de Montcada, has the pictures of his youth and the fifty-eight variations he painted on Velázquez's Las Meninas.
Cubism. 4 works in 1 museum
See the artist
Painter and sculptor, 1893 to 1983
Joan Miró
The Barcelona painter of stars, birds and women in bright, flat colour, whose own foundation on Montjuïc holds the largest collection of his work.
Surrealism. 4 works in 1 museum
See the artist
When they lived
Each bar is a life, from birth to death, on one line of time. 571 years separate the birth of Jaume Huguet from the death of Joan Miró, and 5 of the 11 were alive at the same moment, in 1893.
- Jaume Huguet1412 to 1492
- Bartolomé Bermejo1440 to 1501
- El Greco1541 to 1614
- Francisco de Zurbarán1598 to 1664
- Diego Velázquez1599 to 1660
- Marià Fortuny1838 to 1874
- Santiago Rusiñol1861 to 1931
- Ramon Casas1866 to 1932
- Isidre Nonell1872 to 1911
- Pablo Picasso1881 to 1973
- Joan Miró1893 to 1983
Which museum holds whom
Each block is an artist with work on show in that place. The MNAC, on Montjuïc, has Catalan art from the Romanesque frescoes and the Gothic altarpieces to Fortuny, Casas and Nonell, with old masters beside them. The Picasso Museum has Picasso's youth and his Las Meninas, and the Fundació Joan Miró has Miró.
How to read this page
The choice of artists is this site's: the most famous of those whose work is on show in the museums of Barcelona that it covers. They are in order of birth, which is not a ranking.
A work is listed where it is normally on show. Museums move their works between rooms, lend them and take them down for conservation, so before a special journey check with the museum.