12th Barcelona Modernista Fair 2016

We hope to see you again at the Modernista Fair on 3, 4 and 5 June, this year 2016 dedicated to the painter, draughtsman and poster designer Ramon Casas i Carbó (1866-1932) to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth.

The Fair’s magazine includes an interview with the curator of the Ramon Casas Year, Vinyet Panyella, who will explain the activities of the year as well as the life and work of this Catalan artist. She will also give a talk entitled “Ramon Casas – Barcelona” in the plenary hall of the District’s office on Friday. The puppet show characters in Ramon Casas, l’il·lustrador del Modernisme (Ramon Casas, Illustrator of Modernisme) will playfully recount a few anecdotes of the character to whom the Fair is dedicated, while the Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape (IMPU) will organise a workshop to paint a fan of Ramon Casas, and Coreixample (CE) another workshop to learn how to draw with charcoal, as well as the guided route “Amb ulls de pintor: Ramon Casas i l’Eixample” (Through a painter’s eyes: Ramon Casas and the Eixample) and the Mercat de la Concepció workshop also related to this artist.

This year, the Casa Batlló, Casaramona Factory of the Obra Social ”la Caixa”, Museum of Catalan Modernisme in Barcelona (MMBCN), Güell Pavilions (managed by the IMPU), La Pedrera, Cases Singulars, Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, Bellesguard Tower, Palau Güell, Park Güell, Colonia Güell and Gaudí Experience are all offering discounts in our magazine, as well as free visits to the Sagrada Família. More promotions than ever, so make sure you don’t miss out 

And as in every edition, there will also be novelties! One is the first Modernista PechaKucha, a dynamic presentation format in which ten speakers present twenty slides for twenty seconds each, on the subject “We are all Modernista, Ramon Casas too”, organised by the IMPU and Sergi López-Grado, from the Dreta de l’Eixample Neighbourhood Association. The other novelty is that there will be a screening of Retrats de Barcelona. Evolució d’una ciutat, (Portraits of Barcelona: Evolution of a City), with old images of Barcelona from the MMBCN collection, in addition to the documentary Modernisme et société.

In terms of stands this year, we will be visited for the first time by Cases Singulars, an organisation that offers tours of lesser-known but no less valuable Modernista buildings, such as Casa Amatller, Casa Lleó Morera and Palau Baró de Quadras. Cemeteries of Barcelona will also be back with a stand and display in the large marquee its Estufa hearse carriage, the most commonly used at the funerals of great figures such as Santiago Rusiñol, Enric Prat de la Riba and Count Godó during the 1920s and 1930s. The other stands will be the same as last year but with the novelty that AGBAR Museum will be giving out free glass to let you taste the water of Barcelona to quench your thirst!

Another novelty is the photocall of the “Tram els Quinze”, a traditional place name referring to the junction of Passeig de Maragall with Avingudas Borbón and Mare de Déu de Montserrat. The name refers to the price of line number 46 (Plaça Urquinaona – Plaça Ibiza), which cost 15 cents up to that point and from then on went up to 20 cents.

On Friday, Josep Lluís Moya will give his usual talk, this year entitled “Spain from 1898 to 1930”; on Saturday, we will have street entertainment from the Municipal Museum of Moncada i Reixac at Casa de les Aigües, with actors dressed in period costumes; Mercat de la Concepció will offer us an exhibition of Modernista food advertising posters, and you can waltz to the sounds of the group La Llanterna de Terrassa on Saturday and Sunday.

The Automatàrium is also back, with various automaton actors, as well as the craft market on the side lane of Avinguda Diagonal, between Girona and Bailèn, and the 4th cavalcade of vintage vehicles by the Clàssic Motor Club in Bages and Garatge Terramar. There will also be tours of Palau Macaya by the Association of Neighbours and Friends of Passeig de Sant Joan and the Obra Social ”la Caixa”, as well as the usual giants, pianola, period games and a draw on Sunday among all those who attend dressed in period costume to have their photograph taken at the photographer’s stand.

We look forward to seeing you at the presentation of the Modernista Fair, on Tuesday at 12 pm at the Conservatory of Music, and especially during the Fair itself!