Els Quatre Gats

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Entrance to Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona (2015)

Els Quatre Gats ( Catalan ; German "The Four Cats") was a café and cabaret in Barcelona , Spain between 1897 and 1903 . It became famous through visiting various Spanish and Catalan artists such as Pablo Picasso and Isidre Nonell .

history

Ramon Casas: Ramon Casas i Pere Romeu en un tàndem ( Ramon Casas and Pere Romeu on a tandem ), 1897. The painting originally hung in Quatre Gats , where a copy can still be seen today. The original is in the holdings of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya .

Els Quatre Gats was founded on June 12, 1897 as a café, brasserie and cabaret by Pere Romeu. It is located on the ground floor of the Art Nouveau house Casa Martí designed by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch in the center of Barcelona on Carrer de Montsió .

The artist Ramon Casas largely financed the company. The name is derived from the artist café Le Chat Noir ("The Black Cat") in Paris , where Pere Romeu worked as a waiter. Art exhibitions, literary and musical performances as well as puppet and shadow plays were on the program.

Quatre Gats Art Magazine No. 13, 1899

Els Quatre Gats was the meeting point in Barcelona for the artists of Modernisme , the Catalan form of Art Nouveau . Its best-known representatives were Santiago Rusiñol , Ramon Casas and Miquel Utrillo . Numerous young artists followed suit, such as Pablo Picasso, who had his first solo exhibitions here in February and July 1900. Likewise Julio González , Pablo Gargallo , Carlos Casagemas , Ramon Pichot i Gironès and Jaime Sabartés , who were all friends of Picasso. Musicians and composers like Enrique Granados , Isaac Albéniz and Lluís Millet also met there. The artist pub published about 15 issues of an art magazine called Quatre Gats in 1899 .

After Els Quatre Gats closed in 1903, the building fell into disrepair. After Franco's death and the subsequent democratization in Spain, it was restored and reopened as a restaurant in 1978.

literature

  • Marylin McCully: Els Quatre Gats: Art in Barcelona around 1900 . Princeton University Press 1978

Web links

Commons : Els Quatre Gats  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 23 ′ 9 ″  N , 2 ° 10 ′ 25 ″  E