page_title: Public art in Barcelona
section_title: Twentieth Century
hierarchical_section_title: Public art in Barcelona / History / Twentieth Century
caption_attribution_description: Español: Desconsuelo, de Josep Llimona (Parque de la Ciudadela).
context_page_description: Public art in Barcelona is a designated group of monuments and outdoor sculptures in the city. In addition to the architecture and a network of museums, parks, and gardens, the works put an artistic stamp on the Catalan capital. Public art in the city developed in the 19th century, although the first municipal commission was the 1673 monument to Saint Eulalia in Pedró Square.
  Artworks are typically located in the interior of niches and on the façades of public buildings. They are concentrated because of the city's enclosure by medieval defensive walls. The walls were demolished in the 19th Century, sparking a boom in public works such as Ildefons Cerdà's Eixample project.
  The city annexed several municipalities in the early 20th century, increasing the space available for public art. Some were commissioned for particular events such as the 1888 and 1929 Expositions, the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures.
context_section_description: The twentieth century saw the continued placement of monuments in public spaces of Barcelona, following the custom started with the celebration of the Universal Exhibition. This was the century that saw the largest number of works placed on the public roads of the city. It is noteworthy that during the turn of the century the city expanded, incorporating several neighbouring municipalities that became new districts of Barcelona: Sants-Montjuïc, Les Corts, Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, Gràcia, Sant Andreu de Palomar and Sant Martí de Provençals in 1897, Horta in 1904 and Sarrià in 1921. The political situation in the twentieth century was tumultuous, with the end of the monarchy in 1931 and the arrival of the Second Republic, the Civil War and Francoist Spain, the restoration of the monarchy and the arrival of democracy. The century saw the influx of immigrants to the city, with a consequent increase in the population: from 530,000 in 1900 to 1,009,000 in 1930, reaching a maximum of 1,754,900 between 1970 and 1980. The population at the end of the century was 1,500,000.
  The artistic style prevailing in the first decades of the century was the twentieth century, in contrast to modernism promoted the return to classical Greco-Roman culture, the Mediterranean world. during the 1920s and 1930s were going introducing flows avant-garde international, although in the early years of Francoist Spain saw a return to styles academicism. Later bet again for innovation, especially with the advent of democracy, the artistic atmosphere was introduced fully in successive fashion styles internationally, that have been happening ever more quickly. They then added the public patrimony works of international artists, which has awarded the most prestigious and important public collection in the city. 
  Among the earliest twentieth-century monuments is the statue of Saint James (1903) by Manuel Fuxà, which is in a niche in Plaça Sant Jaume. The 1906 monument to the writer Seraph Pitarra (who used the pseudonym Frederic Soler) in Pla del Teatre by Peter Falqués and Agustín Querol has the inscription fundador del teatre català (The Founder of Catalan Theater), and includes the masks of comedy and tragedy. That same year realized Falqués lamps Passeig de Gràcia and Plaça del Cinc d'Oros -now Plaza Juan Carlos I, although the lights are currently at Avenida Gaudí, made of iron and limestone, the first inverted L-shaped benches to sit, and the latter in the form of vertical root Gothic pinnacle. The following year he settled in a niche of the street Montsió a figure of  Saint Joseph the Patriarch,  the work of Josep Llimona destroyed in 1936 and rebuilt in 2000 by Louis Cera. The same year he was placed in the Parc de la Ciutadella  Mammoth  a replica of this extinct animal sculptures made of concrete -first use of this material in the city- work of Michael Dalmau. In 1908 they placed two busts dedicated to Manuel Milà i Fontanals ( work of Manuel Fuxà) and Emili Vilanova (from Pere Carbonell) in the Parc de la Ciutadella, which opened a custom that would be repeating coming years of dedication busts of various characters, mostly literate thanks to the sponsorship of the association of Floral Games – the park that hosted the Universal Exhibition; so were going happening busts dedicated to Marian Aguilo (Eusebio Arnau, 1909), Victor Balaguer (Manuel Fuxà, 1910), Leon Fontova (Pau Gargallo, 1910), Teodor Llorente (Eusebio Arnau, 1912), Joan Maragall (Eusebi Arnau, 1913), Joaquim Vayreda (Manuel Fuxà, 1915), Pepita Weaver (Manuel Fuxà, 1917) -the first monument dedicated to a woman- and Ramon Batlle (Henry Clarasó, 1918 now disappeared).
  In the Palau de la Música Catalana, an exceptional Modernist building by Lluis Domenech i Montaner,  the La cançó popular sculpture was placed in 1909, in the corner between Sant Pere More Alt and Amadeu Vives. A work by Miquel Blay, it presents a female figure that personifies the song, surrounded by various characters representing the Catalan people, while above stands the imposing figure of St. George, with a sword and 
caption: Desolation (1903) by Josep Llimona, Parc de la Ciutadella
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