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Casa Batlló reveals a century-old secret: its second floor becomes a contemporary art gallery
After more than a century closed to the public, Casa Batlló will open the doors of its second floor for the first time, a space that has gone from being a private residence and restoration workshop to becoming a new venue for contemporary art.
The inauguration, scheduled for January 2026, will mark a milestone in the monument’s history with the exhibition Beyond the Façade, by the British collective United Visual Artists (Matt Clark). The exhibition—a symphony of light, movement and technology—will explore the cycles of life and transformation, reflecting Gaudí’s visionary spirit from a 21st-century perspective.
The project, commissioned by Casa Batlló Contemporary, seeks to build a bridge between the Modernist legacy and more experimental creation. The Barcelona-based studio Mesura has transformed the space with an intervention that respects the soul of the original work: restored joinery, recovered stained-glass windows and a striking undulating metal ceiling, engraved with patterns that evoke water ripples.
“Intervening in a work by Gaudí requires respect and boldness,” explains Carlos Dimas, a partner at Mesura. “We wanted our intervention to whisper, not shout.”
With this opening, Casa Batlló reaffirms its vocation as living heritage, capable of reinventing itself without losing its essence. In the year when Barcelona will celebrate being World Capital of Architecture, the building once again becomes what it has always been: a laboratory of beauty, innovation and timeless art.