“Barcelona & Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
New York. March 7, 2007-June 3, 2007
The Metropolitan Museum’s “Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí” is a dazzling survey with enough sparkle to make you forget about its loose threads and dull spots. The exhibition tells of a period of exceptional creativity in the Catalan capital—between 1888, the date of the Barcelona Universal Exposition, and 1939, when Nationalist forces triumphed in the Civil War, effectively dimming the lights of Catalan culture for several decades. During this period, the city nurtured the early careers of pioneering modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí, who had their greatest successes abroad. And it was home to an idiosyncratic, homegrown style of architecture and design, related to but distinct from Art Nouveau, epitomized by the dramatic work of Antoni Gaudí.
The show’s primary weakness is that it does not seem to know if it is a blockbuster, dominated by masterpieces by beloved artists, or a scholarly exhibition, with a broader social and historical reach. It hovers somewhere between these poles and is open to almost contradictory critiques: On the one hand, it features several forgettable works by second-rate artists; on the other, it relies too heavily on the giant figure of Picasso.
But these are minor quibbles. And they are quickly forgotten as soon as you encounter the work face to face. The highlights are generally works by familiar masters. Picasso’s