Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, MACBA)

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, MACBA) Review

Designed by American architect Richard Meier in 1992, this gleaming explosion of light and geometry in the darkest corner of Raval houses a permanent collection of contemporary art as well as traveling exhibits. With barely a nod to Gaudí (via the amorphous tower in front of the main facade), Meier's exercise in minimalism (resembling, to some degree, a bathroom turned inside-out) has been much debated in Barcelona. Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza's massive bronze La Ola (The Wave) on the MACBA's front porch is popular with skateboarders, while the late Eduardo Chillida's Barcelona climbs the wall to the left of the main entrance in the sculptor's signature primitive blocky black geometrical patterns. The MACBA's 20th-century art collection (Calder, Rauschenberg, Oteiza, Chillida, Tàpies) is excellent, as is the guided tour carefully introducing the philosophical bases of contemporary art as well as the pieces themselves.