Els Quatre Gats

Pere Romeu had the idea to open Els Quatre Gats, drawing inspiration from a French café called Le Chat Noir, where he had previously worked.

Romeu was financially supported by three of his friends, Ramon Casas i Carbó, Santiago Rusiñol and Miguel Utrillo, three major modernist Spanish artists of the time.

The café opened on 12 June 1897 in Casa Martí, an important modernist building designed by the Barcelona architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

[5] The bar was also characterized by piano music and quickly became a popular haunt for important modernist and bohemian artists of the day, including Casas and Rusiñol, but also architects such as Antoní Gaudí and sculptors such as Julio González.

In 1899, at 17 years old, Pablo Picasso began frequenting Els Quatre Gats and even held his first solo exhibition in the main room.

Eventually, after the death of Francisco Franco and the arrival of democracy in Spain in the 1970s, three prominent businessmen, Pere Moto, Ricard Alsina, and Ana Verdeguer began efforts to restore the café to its original glory with a new proposal to the Spanish government.

The proposal made the argument that the restoration of the café would benefit the cultural environment of Barcelona, which was of great importance after the oppression the land of Catalonia had suffered under Franco.

[7] Els Quatre Gats is located on the ground floor of the famous modernist building Casa Marti, designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in 1896.

Ramon Casas and Miguel Utrillo continued to be main contributors to the two magazines that followed the original Els Quatre Gats, and kept the legacy of the café alive after it closed down.