Museu Centre Picasso a Horta de Sant Joan Horta de Sant Joan

The Picasso Center in Horta aims to be a permanent tribute to Picasso, with the goal of bringing together reproductions as faithful as possible to all the works the artist created in Horta or inspired by Horta, thus immortalizing this town. Visitors and scholars alike will find a powerful example of the deep ties that unite this land with the great artist. These reproductions not only reflect Picasso's artistic skill but also the profound influence Horta had on his work and life. The ties created between Picasso and Horta are undeniable, and he himself summed up this connection in his famous phrase:

EVERYTHING I KNOW I LEARNED IN HORTA.

2025 Schedule in PDF format: 2025 Picasso Center Calendar.

HISTORY

The Picasso Center is a private, non-profit organization that seeks to pay tribute to Picasso, perhaps the greatest artist of the 20th century. It aims to showcase the strong artistic and emotional ties that generated a unique body of work that reflects Picasso's profound esteem for Horta.

The Old Hospital, a Renaissance building built in 1575, is currently the headquarters of the Picasso Centre, where facsimile reproductions of almost all the works produced during his stays in Horta and others that evoke this place are exhibited.

The Picasso Centre allows you to see works from two important periods of Picasso's life together: his first steps towards a free style in 1898 and the outbreak of Cubism in 1909. Many of Picasso's works in Horta are landscapes, visible both in the Centre and in the original landscapes Picasso saw over a hundred years ago.

Building

The building that houses the Picasso Centre is the Old Hospital, a Renaissance building built in 1575 by the City Council outside the city walls, intended to accommodate poor and transient patients.

On the first floor, there was a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Forsaken.

In 1837, during the Carlist Wars, it was burned and later restored. Until 1985, it served as a Civil Guard barracks. After a complete restoration, it opened to the public in 1992 as the home of the Picasso Center.

What is on display

Ground floor

Manuel Pallarès Space

This room is dedicated to chronicling the great friendship between Picasso and Manuel Pallarès. A series of panels, with text and images, depict their 78 years of uninterrupted friendship.

This space is also suitable for temporary exhibitions.

We will also find the Picasso tadpoles of Horta, who accompany the giants Salvador and Bárbara to all the popular festivals.

First Floor

The first stay: June 1898 – January 1899

On the first floor , high-quality facsimile reproductions of works created during Picasso's first eight-month stay in Horta are displayed. Display panels, grouped by theme (portraits of children, people at work, goats, trees, etc.), show the drawings and sketches he made during this time. Several explanations help us interpret these works.

Reproductions of oil paintings and color drawings are displayed on the walls. You'll find El Mas del Quiquet, several landscapes and streets of Horta, some portraits, and the magnificent oil painting of The Procession in the Convent.

You can also see other works made in Barcelona, in the years 1902 and 1903, which refer to the town, known as the Evocations of Horta.

Second Floor

Cubism: Summer 1909

Facsimile reproductions of works created during the second stay in Horta are on display. There are also works created in Paris in the spring of 1909, evoking memories of the first stay. Particularly noteworthy are those dedicated to the Temptation of Saint Anthony and Carnival in the Tavern.

The 1909 works are framed within Geometric Cubism and are linked to Horta. The edges of the Horta landscapes and the curves of the Fernande portraits converge, giving the impression that Fernande's head and the Santa Bárbara mountain are superimposed. The process culminates in the two paintings titled "Nude Woman on a Mountain Background," where the landscape of the town and the woman he loves are united in these large oil paintings.