The Picasso Route

By Linda Tancs

Pablo Picasso was only 14 years old when he arrived in Barcelona, Spain. Lauded there for his success, the city’s Picasso Route is a trail chronicling the artistic studies of his formative years. His art school, La Llotja, wasn’t far from his home, a flat in the tony residential block called Porxos d’en Xifré. Its rooftop views provided ample inspiration for the painter’s landscapes and seascapes. Picasso donated a large number of his works to Barcelona, housed today at the city’s Museu Picasso. A short distance from the museum, the Plaça Nova is another feature of the walking tour. There you’ll find  the artist’s only piece of public art in the city: the three friezes on the façade of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes building, executed by the Norwegian sculptor and photographer Carl Nesjar according to original drawings by Picasso.