Barcelona 1900,

At the dawn of the twentieth century Barcelona was a city of many aspects, its artistic and cultural growth being matched by strong political and social tensions. Thus it was that the city displayed extraordinary grandeur with its Teatre del Liceu, a symbol of the well-to-do bourgeoisie, with the delightful urban architecture of Antoni Gaudi and Lluis Domenech i Montaner, or indeed with the Art Nouveau interiors. Artistic life flourished in many places: in the Sala Pares, where avant-garde artists who had studied in Paris exhibited their work; in the Els Quatre Gats, where Picasso, Rusinol and their Bohemian friends met regularly, but also the artists? colony in Sitges. Young talents like Isidre Nonell or Ramon Casas were making a name for themselves, with their flair for combining modernism with social realities in their work. In the same period Barcelona was undergoing an urban expansion which was both impressive and innovative: l? Eixample, based on the designs of the engineer Ildefonso Cerda. But at the same time the city was facing intense industrialisation, which in turn brought with it heavy demographic pressures. Thus Barcelona was turning into a modern metropolis. The tension reached its paroxysm in 1909, during the ?Semana tragica?. The town was in flames but in the midst of the rubble people busied themselves with trying to construct Gaudi? s Holy Family, the ?Cathedral of the Poor?, a sign of hope. Barcelona 1900 offers a glimpse of the artistic diversity of the city during the ?Golden Age? which was the end of the nineteenth century, leading the reader from the Ramblas to Gaudi? s cathedral, via the Palau de la Musica Catalana. All along this ?walking trail? Barcelona is revealed in pictures, drawings, sculptures, furniture, jewellery and models. New book.