drawing

The exhibition 'Drawing Versailles. Charles Le Brun (1619-1690)', from the Paris Louvre Museum's collection, will be displayed in Barcelona’s CaixaForum until the 14^th of February. The exhibition shows the preliminary cartoons and sketches that painter Charles Le Brun did for the Staircase of the Ambassadors and the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. The drawings include studies of characters, allegorical figures, trophies and animals that formed part of the artist’s compositions, conceived as a great symbolic jigsaw puzzle. The Louvre Museum has 300 of these drawings and 78 of them will now be displayed in Barcelona's CaixaForum. The exhibition is the fruit of an agreement reached in 2009 between the two institutions through which many exhibitions from the Louvre can be shown in the Catalan capital. 

For the first time in 11 years, the internationally-renowned Basque artist Eduardo Chillida has an exclusive exhibit on display in Barcelona. Since 20 April, the Mayoral Gallery has hosted the Chillida exhibition, 'Awakening' ('Despertar'). The exhibition is comprised of a carefully curated selection of sculptures, drawings and prints, as well as supplementary material for his monumental works photographs and the video 'Art and Dreams' ('El arte y los sueños'). Among the works are two emblematic sculptures, 'La estela' and one of the pieces from the series 'Trembling Iron' ('Hierros de temblor'). Barcelona displays 3 large-scale sculptures of Chillida in the Gothic Quarter and in parks. In 2004, the Jordi Barnadas art gallery hosted the last individual exhibition devoted to the artist held in the Catalan capital.

Barcelona's Picasso Museum unveiled on Friday the first exhibition in the world analysing how Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí artistically admired and influenced each other, despite their political differences. The Catalan museum has opened the most awaited temporary exhibition of the season, which will run until 28 June. 'Picasso/Dalí. Dalí/Picasso' showcases 78 works of these two giants of 20^th century art, including paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures and carvings. They tell the story of their artistic relationship and how their works evolved by setting many parallels between the two. The exhibition also includes 33 documents such as some letters that Gala and Salvador Dalí sent to Picasso, which had only been on show once, in Paris.

This year the Barcelona International Comic Fair celebrated its 32^nd edition by looking back at the golden age of superhero comics and the wars that shaped History. Organizers FICOMIC increased this year´s event space from 19,000 to 32,000 square meters, which resulted in attendance figures of 106,000 throughout all four days and an increase in sales of comics and other products. The Fair Director, Carles Santamaría, stated that “weare satisfied with the high participation of the audience in an edition that has beaten its record for space”. The festival was once again characterized by the presence of well-known names of the comic universe, such as Spanish artists Paco Roca and Francisco Ibañez, Canadian Ramón K. Perez and Maltese Joe Sacco.

The People's Republic of China is this year’s special guest at the 30th edition of the Barcelona International Comic Fair, which runs from May 3rd to 6th at the Fira de Barcelona. An exhibition will showcase the most important works in the history of Chinese comics. Furthermore, this edition is turning the spotlight on robots, dedicating its main exhibition both to entertaining and exploring the relationship between robots and comics, cinema and literature.

‘The Clothed Maja’, ‘the Quitasol’, ‘the Puppet’ or the ‘Witches Flight’ are some of the canvases included in the largest retrospective exhibition on Goya organised in Barcelona in the last 35 years. Held at the Catalan capital’s CaixaForum, the exhibition ‘Goya. Lights and Shadows’ is organised by the social work foundation of the Catalan bank La Caixa and the Prado Museum. 96 pieces of the Aragon master’s work, including oil paintings, drawings and picture cards, will be on display for free until May 24th.

The convention is celebrating its 29th edition. It hopes to gather a total of 100,000 comic fans during the four-day fair. This year the largest exhibition is devoted to creatures of the living-dead.

The Comic Book and Illustration Museum aims to contribute to the development of a cultural industry with a long tradition in Catalonia. Professionals ask the already approved museum to open its doors by 2013 in Badalona, next to Barcelona.

Barcelona is hosting the ‘Big Draw’ initiative for the first time this year. The project began in London 10 years ago with the objective of “using drawing to connect visitors with museum and gallery collections, urban and rural spaces – and the wider community – in new and enjoyable ways”.

A 50-year retrospective of the Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino will open on the 15th of October at the Fundació Tàpies Museum in Barcelona.