Miquel Barceló. Gravats de Barcelona 2010-2026

Miquel Barceló (Felanitx, Mallorca, 1957) is one of the most outstanding artists of his generation. His work came to prominence in the early 1980s, particularly following his participation in Documenta 7 (Kassel, 1982)—at which time he was associated with the rise of the new expressionisms—and he soon established an impressive international reputation. His work has been shown in major international galleries, as well as in important solo exhibitions in museums in cities such as London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Boston, Montreal, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. He has also carried out major public projects, notably his interventions at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva and in Mallorca Cathedral.

A prolific artist, Barceló is known not only for his paintings, characterized by their rich textures and large formats, but also for his drawings, prints, illustrated books, sculptures, ceramics and performances. His work is likewise marked by frequent references to the history of art, ranging from cave painting to contemporary art and literature. His subject matter is varied, encompassing all the traditional genres of painting—landscape, portraiture, still life and bullfighting—as well as other unusual or less common themes such as holes, cracks, libraries, caves, animals and fish. In recent years he has also addressed political, ecological and fantastical themes.

The exhibition Barceló Printmaker focuses on this facet of the artist’s practice, presenting around thirty prints, most of them recent, produced at the Barcelona workshop of Joan Roma and Takeshi Motomiya. Barceló has worked with them since 2010, and their collaboration has been highly fruitful. Roma and Motomiya, who previously worked frequently with Antoni Tàpies, are renowned for their extraordinary technical mastery. With them, Barceló has explored every possible printmaking technique: etching, aquatint, carborundum, collage, roulettes, woodcut, lithography, silkscreen, varnish—always exploiting the specific properties of each medium.

Among the works on display is a series of woodcuts from 2015 portraying, in an expressive manner, writers from different periods and languages: Guy de Maupassant, Anna Akhmatova, Isaac Babel, Gérard de Nerval, Matsuo Bashō, Ezra Pound and Raymond Carver. Other prints depict marine creatures such as lobsters, prawns, octopuses, moray eels and fish. Still others represent animals such as deer, as well as plants and fruits. There is also a self-portrait.

From a technical perspective, the prints sometimes incorporate unusual elements such as sequins or seeds. The papers may also have been scratched, and their colours, although predominantly muted, can at times become intense.

The three books included in the exhibition are all recent. Two of them were produced, like the prints, at the Roma and Motomiya workshop. One is titled Dintre de la panxa del bou (2026) and presents prints in various techniques featuring images of felines. It is a wordless book created solely by the artist. The second book, titled Sobre la apariencia de las cosas y otros poemas (2026), brings together ten poems by the poet and exhibition curator Enrique Juncosa (Palma de Mallorca, 1961), along with three prints by Barceló. It was published in Cuenca by Juan Carlos Varela at his publishing house Menú. Juncosa is a specialist in Barceló’s work and has organised numerous exhibitions of his, including the show at the Spanish Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. He is also the curator of this exhibition. The two had previously collaborated on an earlier book, Libro del océano, published in Málaga in 1991.
The third book in the exhibition is Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée (2025) by Guillaume Apollinaire, published by Yvon Lambert. It includes twenty-four lithographs, produced at Atelier Clot, Bramsen & Co in Paris, folded into triptychs and presented inside a wooden box. Each of the animals represented in the bestiary embodies a different vital force.

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Dates: June 11 – October 9, 2026
Address: Bailén 19, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
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