Barcelona holds two artists’ museums that people frequently book without knowing what is in them, and both regularly disappoint visitors for the same reason: they came expecting the famous pictures. The Picasso Museum has almost none of the famous pictures. The Miró Foundation has a great many of the right ones but they are not what most people picture when they hear the name. Understood correctly, they are two of the best hours in the city, and they suit very different people.
The Picasso Museum
Five medieval palaces knocked together on a narrow street in El Born, which is half the pleasure of the visit.
The early work, in extraordinary quantity: academic studies made at thirteen and fourteen, portraits of his family, the training that the later revolution was built on.
The Blue Period, well represented, including some of its best known canvases.
The Las Meninas series, fifty eight variations on Velázquez painted in 1957, kept together in their own rooms, which is the single most impressive thing in the museum.
Very little cubism and no Guernica, which lives in Madrid.
Timed entry and a crowded, narrow site.
The Miró Foundation
A building designed for the collection by Josep Lluís Sert, a friend of the artist, using white walls, curved light wells and interior courtyards.
Given by the artist, which is why the holding is so complete: paintings, sculpture, textiles and the whole arc of the work.
The roof terrace, with sculpture and a view over the city, which is included and which people miss.
Contemporary exhibitions in a dedicated space, historically a serious programme rather than a filler.
On Montjuïc, so it fits naturally into a hill day rather than a city centre one.
Which to choose
Choose the Picasso Museum if you want to understand how a painter was made, if you like medieval architecture, and if you are already spending time in El Born.
Choose the Miró Foundation if you prefer twentieth century work, if you want a calm bright building rather than a dense dark one, and if you are giving a day to Montjuïc anyway.
Both, on different days, if you are here for a week. They are not similar and they do not cancel each other out.
Neither if what you want is the famous canvases, in which case the national art museum on Montjuïc will serve you better, or a trip to Madrid will.
The rest of the art
The national art museum on Montjuïc, with the Romanesque frescoes, which is the most important collection in the city and the least visited by short stay tourists.
The MACBA, contemporary, in the Raval, with a plaza outside that is the city’s skateboarding centre.
The CCCB, next door, for exhibitions about cities and culture rather than a permanent collection.
The Antoni Tàpies foundation, in a modernista building in the Eixample, small and serious.
The Moco museum and similar private ventures, which are heavily marketed and priced accordingly. Read what is actually in them before booking.
Practical notes
Closing day is usually Monday for both, which wrecks a lot of itineraries.
Free periods exist and are crowded, and some still require a booked slot.
Bags larger than a small daypack go in lockers at both.
Photography rules differ by room and by exhibition, and are enforced.
The Picasso Museum street is extremely narrow and there is nowhere to wait, which is why the timed slot matters more here than elsewhere.
Where this fits in a Barcelona trip
An artist’s museum is a half day, and it works best paired with the neighbourhood around it.
For the other great Barcelona name, and the buildings that are the reason most people come, our full guide to Gaudí covers the whole set.
For the hill the Miró Foundation sits on and how to order a day up there, our guide to Montjuïc covers the castle, the gardens and the other museum.
And for the streets the Picasso Museum is buried in, our walking route through the Gothic Quarter and El Born covers what to do either side of your slot.
The short version
Book a timed slot for either museum a few days ahead and take the earliest one you can. Go to the Picasso Museum for the making of a painter and the Las Meninas rooms, and read the first three rooms slowly rather than walking through them. Go to the Miró Foundation for the building as much as the work, and do not leave without going up to the roof terrace. Check the Monday closing before you plan around it, and if what you actually want is the famous canvases, go up the hill to the national museum instead.
