The current Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition, “Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí” appears at an odd time.  With the museum closed for its massive renovation, and the regular galleries not scheduled to begin reopening until fall 2007, I expected “Barcelona” to be more of a snack than a meal – something small and quickly thrown together to tide over art lovers until next year. 

Instead, I found a world-class showcase of the art of Barcelona from 1868 to 1939.  The exhibition features more than 350 pieces in a variety of media by 90 different artists.  “Barcelona” is the first exhibit in North America to cover the period, and has been more than two years in the planning.  The CMA even went as far as to hire Jordi Falgas, a curator and art historian from Barcelona, to aid with the planning and acquisitions.

Composed of more than a dozen rooms, the exhibit is divided into three major movements: Modernisme, Noucentisme and Avant-Gardism.  In the late 19th century, Barcelona was the largest and most industrialized city in Spain, and its cultural sophistication soon followed.  By the mid-1880s, Catalan Modernisme was under way, led by painters Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, among others. 

“Catalan Modernisme had a very special blending of two main features,” Falgas said. “One is new forms of art, and those would be similar to Art Nouveau in France.”

Aesthetically, Modernisme shares many characteristics with Art Nouveau, as well as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.  In the exhibition itself, Modernisme is defined primarily by its rejection of earlier academic themes – historical painting, classicism, religious painting – in favor of examining various social problems, such as poverty, crime, and drug addiction.  These concerns are exemplified by works such as Casas’ “The Garroting,” and Rusiñol’s “Morphine.” 

But according to Falgas, Modernisme also has a distinctly Catalan flavor.  In addition to its progressive tendencies, Modernisme also sought to recover the Catalan culture of the Middle Ages – an idea best represented in architecture by Antoni Gaudí’s “Sagrada Familia Temple.”  The temple’s gothic and medieval influences are obvious, but the building is still fully modern, and remains Barcelona’s most recognizable landmark.

The second major section of the exhibition is Noucentisme, literally “1900-ism.” The Noucentisme movement was a reaction of sorts against the emotional and formal excesses of Modernisme. It emphasized clear, orderly design over experimentation, and dealt with more conservative themes.  Though the Noucentisme section is smaller than the others, it still contains fantastic works by artists like Joaquim Sunyer and Joaquin Torres-Garciá.  Another highlight is Picasso’s “The Harem,” a precursor to his famous “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”.

The third section of the exhibition, Avant-Gardism, encompasses a number of progressive art movements such as cubism and surrealism.  The section features an impressive selection of works by Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, among others. Spanish Avant-Gardism reached maturity in the 1920s and 30s, and was typified by complex symbolism and sometimes baffling abstraction.  Highlights include Miró’s “The Hunter” and Dalí’s “The Dream.”

Even as Avant-Gardism became increasingly difficult and complex, Catalan architecture was moving in the opposite direction.  The Avant-Garde section features photographs and plans of buildings by Barcelona’s many so-called “rationalist” architects.  The buildings are reminiscent of the European International style, characterized by economic efficiency, straight, clear lines and clean, unornamented surfaces.  Most noteworthy is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s pavilion for the Barcelona International Exposition of 1929.

The exhibition closes on a dark note with the arrival of the Spanish Civil War.  An array of propaganda posters announces Catalonia’s unification against Franco’s forces, while the conflict also starts to appear in the works of the Avant-Gardists. 

It is somewhat ironic that the Avant-Gardists were the generation of artists called upon to speak about the war, with their obliqueness and love of symbolism.  A Modernisme work like Nonell’s “Poor People Working for Soup” speaks very directly about a social problem.  With Picasso’s “Bull Skull, Fruit, Pitcher,” on the other hand, we can only speculate on what he is saying about the war – the real-life tragedy of the conflict is hidden from us. 

Nevertheless, the exhibition is brilliant from start to finish.  A guided tour or audio tour (either is free with admission) will lead you through the exhibition’s highlights in about an hour, or you can go at your own pace.  I spent about two and a half hours, and still felt that I had more to see.

But Falgas encourages visitors not to be intimidated: “I always like to stress that I do believe that it’s an exhibition for all ages and audiences.  That’s the nice thing about modern art – you don’t have to have a lot of prior information to really understand it, even if it’s some really abstract surrealist like Dali or Miro.”

The exhibition runs now through Jan. 7.  General admission tickets are $12 on weekdays, and $15 on Saturdays and Sundays, with discounts available for children, seniors, college students and groups.  For information, call 1 (888) CMA-0033, or (216) 421-7350.