Mural

Most people standing in the shadow of the Barcelona Cathedral are looking the wrong way. They’re staring at the spires, the gargoyles, the heavy weight of centuries of Catholic guilt. But turn around. Look at the building that looks like a 1960s office block had a head-on collision with a sketchbook. That’s the Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya, and those crude, childlike figures dancing across the facade? That’s Picasso. \n\nThis isn't a painting. It’s a sgraffito—a technique where you layer plaster and then blast it away with sand to reveal the dark stone underneath. Picasso didn't actually hold the sandblaster; he was eighty years old and living in France at the time. He sent the sketches, and a Norwegian artist named Carl Nesjar did the dirty work. The result is the 'Friso de la Sardana,' a massive, sprawling tribute to the Catalan national dance, the Sardana.