MACBA – Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
Miró, Tàpies, Brossa, Subirachs, Barceló, Plensa, and much more in the heart of the Raval.
Beyond being a contemporary art museum, the MACBA is an impressive architectural masterpiece by Richard Meier, who created a bright, open space of 14,000 square meters in one of Barcelona’s most historic and traditional neighborhoods.
This grand museum of glass and white aluminum floods the Raval district with light and houses works spanning from the mid-20th century to the present.
Its construction marked the fulfillment of two dreams: bringing together contemporary art collections under one roof, inspired by New York’s MoMA, and revitalizing the Raval neighborhood with light, air, open public spaces, and a cultural heartbeat.
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What can you find at MACBA?
The MACBA’s collection of contemporary art provides a journey through artistic evolution—starting from the material abstraction of the 1950s, moving toward European pop art and avant-gardes of the '60s and '70s, exploring the power of language and poetic experience, embracing photographic figuration and anti-minimalist sculpture of the '80s, and reaching today’s emerging creators.
Its archives preserve works from prominent local artists, such as Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Brossa, Joan Ponç, the Dau al Set collective, Josep Maria Subirachs, Jaume Plensa, and Miquel Barceló. It also treasures pieces from national and international artists—particularly Latin American and Eastern European ones—including works by Equipo Crónica, Jorge Oteiza, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, among many others from North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arab world.
Meier’s modern and rationalist building, declared a museum of national interest by the Generalitat de Catalunya, was inaugurated in 1995 at Plaça dels Àngels, directly facing the serene Convent dels Àngels, a Gothic architectural gem. The convent’s sobriety contrasts beautifully with the museum’s crisp white aluminum, glass, metal, and reflective surfaces.
How to get to MACBA?
Using the Blue Route of the Barcelona Bus Turístic, you can get off at Plaça de Catalunya, where you’ll arrive at two of Barcelona’s most important contemporary cultural centers.
For the curious ones
- Did you know? The then-mayor of Barcelona, Pasqual Maragall, met Richard Meier during a debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos. When asked by the mayor what type of building he would like to design for Olympic Barcelona, Meier responded, “a museum.” A few months later, Maragall commissioned him to design the MACBA.
- Meier also designed the new Plaça dels Àngels, a vast open space that merges seamlessly with the museum through ramps and skylights, allowing natural light to pour in.
- Until the end of 2024, Plaça del MACBA and its access stairs were a paradise for skaters and an international pilgrimage site in the world of skateboarding.
