At the Palazzo Diamanti, Ferrara, for the exhibition ‘La Rosa di Fuoco – Picasso and Gaudi’s Barcelona’. The exhibition tells the story of the modernization of Barcelona at the turn of the twentieth century – a golden age of Catalan art and architecture. It starts with the optimism and celebration of Barcelona’s Universal Exposition in 1888 and ends with the events of Tragic Week in 1909, which brought about the end of the dream. At that time Barcelona became known as ‘La Rosa di Fuoco’ – the Rose of Fire, as the city bore witness to a violent uprising by an impoverished population.

The exhibition brings together architectural designs by Antoni Gaudi and others and paintings by artists such as Ramon Casas, Hermen Anglada Camarasa and ‘Blue Period’ Pablo Picasso.

Hermen Anglada Camarasa ‘The White Peacock’ (1904)

Picasso ‘Portrait of Gustave Coquiot’ (1901)

Picasso ‘Girl in a Chemise’ (1904 – 05)

Picasso ‘The Frugal Meal’ (1904)

Easter in Montecarlo, a delightful hilltop village, near Lucca, Tuscany. The historic centre, with origins in the eleventh century, is set on top of a hill overlooking a 360° panorama of Tuscan vineyards, olive groves and green woods.

At the Palazzo Ducale, Genova for the exhibition ‘Espressionismo Tedesco 1905 – 1913’, a survey of the ‘Die Brücke’ group. ‘Die Brücke’ was formed in 1905 in Dresden by four architecture students, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel. They were later joined by Max Pechstein and Otto Mueller and, for a short time, Emil Nolde.

The exhibition was very good, though somewhat incomplete. There were hardly any examples of paintings from Moritzburg and none of Kirchner’s Berlin Street Scenes , but apart from that a fairly thorough survey.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner ‘Artist -Marcella’ (1910)

Max Pechstein ‘The Black and Yellow Bathing Suit’ (1909)

Erich Heckel ‘Franzi Reclining’ (1910)

Max Pechstein ‘Two Dancers’ (1909)

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff ‘Thoughtful Woman’ (1912)