10 Art Museums in Province of Barcelona That You Shouldn't Miss

The Episcopal Museum of Vic (MEV), founded in 1891, houses a magnificent collection of medieval art with paintings and sculpture from the Catalan Romanesque and Gothic periods. The collections of precious metals, textiles, wrought ironwork, glass and ceramics offer a comprehensive journey through the history of liturgical and decorative art in Catalonia. This highly prized collection, including over 29,000 pieces, is exhibited in a new building on a site adjoining the cathedral, equipped with state-of-the-art exhibition facilities. Due to the exceptional interest of the museum's collections, in 2001 the museum was declared a museum of national interest by the Government of Catalonia.

The Fundació Joan Miró was created by Miró himself, at first principally with works from his own private collection, with a desire to set up an internationally recognised centre in Barcelona for Miró scholarship and contemporary art research, and to disseminate the collection. The Fundació opened to the public on 10 June 1975 and has since become a dynamic centre in which Joan Miró's work coexists with cutting-edge contemporary art. With an interdisciplinary approach, the Fundació organises temporary exhibitions of 20th and 21st century artists as well as academic activities and projects in collaboration with other institutions and organisations. Through its exhibition and educational programmes, the Fundació Joan Miró explores lines of research linked to the work of Miró and to contemporary art. The Fundació is located in a building designed by Josep Lluís Sert, making it one of the few museums anywhere in the world in which the complicity between artist and architect underpins the dialogue between the works and the space that houses them. The Fundació offers an overview of the landscapes of Joan Miró's art and life, creating an enriching dialogue with other artists from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Cau Ferrat 's Museum is the workshop that the painter Santiago Rusinol built in Sitges by the sea in 1893 to house its paintings, iron, ceramics, furniture and antique glass. The museum preserves intact the space and works of art that the modernist painter collected. His visit is an invitation to immerse ourselves in the spirit of Modernism and his idea of the creation of total art. On their walls they upload works by their fellow generations such as Ramon Casas, Ramon Pichot, Ignacio Zuloaga or Dario de Regoyos, and young emerging artists from that period such as Pablo Picasso, Manolo Hugue and Isidre Nonell.

The Maricel Museum exhibits a complete artistic route from the tenth century to realism and figuration during the first half of the twentieth century, passing through the art collections of Dr. Jesus Perez Rosales and the Collection of Sitges, with works of great quality. The museum exhibition integrates multiple languages, techniques and artistic media in order to achieve a maximum consistency in the chronological sequence of the development of the arts. The museum included works from the collection of Dr. Jesus Perez-Rosales that never had been exhibited in public, acquisitions by the Sitges Heritage Association since 2012 (Ramon Casas, Miquel Utrillo, Arcadi Mas i Fondevila, Artur Carbonell i Augusti Ferrer Pino) ​​and donations from artist’s relatives (Pere Jou and Alfred Sisquella).

Casa Vicens is the first masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi and sowed the seeds of later works. Built between 1883 and 1885 as a summer house for the Vicens family, here he showcased his unparalleled talent. Declared Unesco World Heritage in 2005.

Can Framis is the latest Fundació Vila Casas museum. Opened in April 2009 in Barcelona, it has around 300 works on show dating from the 1960’s onwards by a wide range of artists born or living in Catalonia. Temporary exhibitions are held at the Can Framis Espai A0. Can Framis, a factory built at the end of the 18th century, was originally owned by the Framis family. Over the years it fell into disuse, becoming a monument to the industry of the area. Today, as a Museum of Contemporary Painting, it is an ideal place for the contemplation of art located in Poble Nou, now converted into the technological district of Barcelona and renamed 22@. The conversion of the building was undertaken by the BAAS architectural practice.