Escultura "El bon temps perseguint la tempesta"

The Avinguda de Gaudí is a rare diagonal slash of sanity in the grid-locked geometry of the Eixample. It’s a pedestrian-heavy corridor that connects two of Barcelona’s most ego-driven architectural statements: the Sagrada Família and the Hospital de Sant Pau. Most tourists use this stretch of pavement to catch their breath or find an overpriced sandwich, completely oblivious to the bronze drama unfolding right at eye level near the top of the avenue. This is where you’ll find 'El bon temps perseguint la tempesta'—Good Weather Chasing the Storm—a piece of work by Apel·les Fenosa that looks less like cast metal and more like a ghost story caught in a gale.

Fenosa was a man who understood the weight of exile and the fluidity of life. A friend of Picasso and a sculptor who refused to be pinned down by the rigid 'Noucentisme' style of his peers, he made bronze behave like liquid. This sculpture, commissioned in the late 70s and dropped into the street in 1985, isn't some static monument to a dead general. It’s a visceral, wind-swept chase. You have two figures: one representing the storm, heavy and retreating, and the other representing the 'bon temps,' light, ethereal, and relentless. It’s a very Catalan sentiment—the constant, grinding struggle between the shadows of the past and the hope for a clear sky.

If you’re looking for the best things to do in Eixample that don’t involve standing in a three-hour line, this is your spot. You don’t need a ticket, you don’t need a guide, and nobody is going to try to sell you a plastic miniature of it. It’s just there, standing on its pedestal, enduring the pigeons and the exhaust fumes. The way the light hits the textured bronze in the late afternoon is something special; the figures seem to vibrate against the backdrop of the red-brick Modernista domes of Sant Pau. It’s one of those rare sculptures near Sagrada Familia that actually demands you stop and look, rather than just using it as a landmark for a meeting point.

Is El bon temps perseguint la tempesta worth it? If you give a damn about art that feels like it has a pulse, then yes. It serves as a necessary visual reset between the overwhelming verticality of Gaudí’s cathedral and the sprawling, tiled beauty of Domènech i Montaner’s hospital. It’s a reminder that Barcelona isn't just a museum of the 19th century; it’s a living city where modern hands have left their mark on the old stones.

The Avinguda de Gaudí art scene is subtle. It’s about the street lamps, the benches, and the way the locals ignore the masterpieces because they’ve lived with them for forty years. Sit at one of the nearby cafes—avoid the ones with pictures of paella on the menu—order a vermouth with an olive, and just watch. Watch how the kids run past it, how the old men lean against the base to argue about football, and how the 'Good Weather' continues its eternal, bronze pursuit of the 'Storm.' It’s honest, it’s beautiful, and it doesn’t cost you a single Euro to appreciate the struggle.