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 The Barcelona Picasso Museum clearly confirms the ties that unite Pablo Picasso with the city of Barcelona. He did not only finish a solid academic training here, but the artistic effervescence that he experienced in the city was the starting point that opened up for him the path to modernity. The museum has the most important and exhaustive collections of the works of Pablo Picasso´s youth and education, in particular the ones he did between 1895 and 1904, the years in which the young artist lived in our city. The solid conventional academic training that the young Picasso received between 1891 and 1897 -under his father´s tutelage- in the fine arts schools in La Coruña, Barcelona and Madrid, is well-represented by a range of work that shows the artist´s mastery of his craft, as also is his foray into official competitions, which led to key work during the time of his training, such as First Communion (Barcelona, 1896) and Science and Charity (Barcelona, 1897). His links to Catalan Modernisme and, in particular, to the artists and intellectuals that used to meet at the mythical tavern, Els Quatre Gats, are reflected in a series of works, chiefly in the portraits that he made of many regular customers. The Picasso Museum occupies five medieval palaces: Aguilar, Baró de Castellet, Meca, Casa Mauri, and Palau Finestres, which have been restored various times throughout the centuries. The restoration carried out in the eighteenth century by the Baron of Castellet in the palace that bears his name stands out. This was done in one of the halls on the main floor. Medieval elements still remain in the Aguilar and Finestres palaces, such as the painted beams in one of the rooms on the ground floor.
The Joan Miró Foundation Museum was set up on the initiative of Joan Miró thanks to the donations he made to his home town. Opened to the public in 1975, Miró conceived it as a living centre where students and the general public could become familiar with his work as well as with contemporary art trends. The permanent exhibition of a large part of the collection of Miró´s work belonging to the Foundation provides a tour of the artist´s creative production, from the earliest drawings, produced in 1901, to the large-format paintings of his last period.  The work exhibited also speaks for the wealth and variety of Miró´s universe, which includes a wide range of techniques such as painting, drawing, the graphic work, sculpture and tapestry. Josep Lluís Sert, a great friend of Miró, designed the building in an obviously Mediterranean style. He conceived it as a light and airy architectural structure, with its terraces overlooking the city, its interior patios and its combination of forms contributing to a harmonious relationship between architecture and the landscape.
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