Spanish Art and Architecture

During the 19th Century, Spain produced no particularly eminent painters. Minor artists included José de Madrazo y Agudo and Mariano Fortuny, the latter having belonged to the French romantic and historical painters.

Things changed in the 20th Century, with several world famous painters and sculptors coming to the forefront. The most famous of all modern artists in Spain include Pablo Picasso, the cubist Juan Gris, and the Surrealist artists Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró. All of the mentioned artists made important contributions to Spanish art and to the artistic world as a whole.

The mid 20th Century saw the emergence of abstact expressionism in Spain, which was represented in the works of Luis Sáez and Antonio Tapies, to name a few. Among the contemporary painters are Luis Ficto José Francés, and Rafael Canogar, and important Spanish sculptors include Francisco Barón, José Luis Sánchez y Gabino, among others.

Architecture in Spain experienced true change at the turn of the 19th Century when a new bizarre style of Art Nouveau, termed Modernism, emerged. The most prominent and outstanding contributions with this new movement are the works of Antoni Gaudí, which are incredibly outlandish and one-of-a-kind. Barcelona was this movement's cradle and to this day the city has remained a leading centre of modern architecture in Spain.