The shutters of establishments in Sants and Les Corts transform the shopping district into an art gallery

It’s not every day that you find works by Van Gogh, Sorolla, Monet and Goya on the streets of Barcelona.  Now the shutters of a number of shops in the Sants-Les Corts shopping district are displaying classic works of art as part of the “Open Air Gallery” project. Promoted by the Sants and Les Corts districts, the shopping district and the RebobinART art collective, the aim of the initiative is to boost trade in the district.

Through this artistic intervention, the promoters aim to raise the visibility of the businesses and attract customers from all over Barcelona, besides the district's local residents. However, this is not the only aim. According to the RebobinART collective, the “Open Air Gallery” mixes classic art with urban art in a “homage to the traders and their role in the artistic boom of the Renaissance, which enabled artists such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello and Masaccio to break into the cultural scene of the day”.

The 24 shops on C/ Galileu and C/ Vallespir participating in the project each chose a work of art that was in some way connected with the business of their establishment, bringing each work of art to a new environment, the public space, under a new artistic language, urban art.

Thanks to this project, Barcelona residents who visit the shopping districts of Sants and Les Corts will be able to see works such as the “Yellow Cow” by Franz Marc, displayed on the shutter of the Super-carn butcher's, or “Café Terrace at Night”, by Vincent Van Gogh, on the shutter of the bar Andana.

Urban artists Jalón de Aquiles and Lucie Blin were commissioned to produce the paintings to ensure the aesthetic coherence of the project. To date, they have painted half of the shutters in the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, to coincide with the Christmas period.