he fairytale Park Güell, the famous painting Guerni- ca: people come from all over the world to see them. Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia is the indisputable number one of the most visited places and monuments in Spain.T The Dalí museum in Figueres and the Picasso museum in Barcelona are in the top 15.

GAUDÍ Barcelona would not be Barcelona without Gaudí’s architecture. His designs are found across the city - in fact, you can take entire Gaudí city tours. The well-known Sagrada Familia cathedral is the absolute cracker. It has been under construction since 1882. Every time some money is found, more work is done, so tourists who come back regularly get a new sight every time. Gaudí’s wondrous apartment complex Casa Mila with its undulating brickwork and multicoloured tiles is a leading tourist attraction, just as the Park Güell with its surprises around every corner.

ART AS A CATALYST FOR TOURISM To most people, Spain stands for sun, sea and football. But there is so much more to see in the country. Spanish art is like a magnet to tourists. Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and Antoni Gaudí are the big attractions. Their lives and work are a catalyst for tourism.

 Antoni Gaudí and his Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila and Park Güell DALÍ BINDING FACTOR

Salvador Dalí, one of the best known surrealist artist in the Next to an economic force, the trio of artists also plays a key world, is also among the greats. In the 1920s, Dalí met Pablo role in the social fabric of the country. Picasso, Gaudí and Dalí Picasso in Paris. While Picasso became famous for his cubist are a binding factor, an essential part of the Spanish identity. pieces, the flamboyant Dalí joined the surrealist movement, However different, they bring the people together and help which depicts strange dream worlds. Just outside Barcelona, shape Spanish culture. Pride in these artists forms a major in the village of Figueres, is an impressive museum with his art part of the shared past of the Spanish people and fosters social works, where Dalí is also buried. cohesion.

But however important the social and economic role of art BOOST may be, the impact of these well-known artists can never be These art works are a huge boost to tourism in cities like reduced to figures and statistics. As Einstein once said: ‘Not Madrid and Barcelona, which hotels, restaurants and retail everything that counts can be measured, and not everything benefit from. In addition, creative minds are reinterpreting the that can be measured counts.’ At the end of the day, the cultural heritage. Examples of this are Gaudí apps for cultural essence of art is that it touches you, and that is invaluable. walks through Barcelona, the Picasso app that helps you to unlock your own creativity, or colourful Dalí reproductions to liven up grey cellar doors. Clearly, the Spanish trio is still able to produce spin-offs.

 Pablo Picasso, Museo Picasso (Barcelona) and Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica

PICASSO THE MOST VISITED Pablo Picasso is inextricably linked to Barcelona. He is MUSEUMS IN SPAIN considered the most influential artist of the 20th century. Barcelona is where Picasso set his first steps on the path of Sagrada Familia (Barcelona) 3.7 million modern art. He studied here, had his first exhibitions here, and later got his own museum, which now draws in more Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid) 3.2 million than one million visitors every year. Picasso’s most famous work is the Guernica, the painting he made for the 1937 Museo del Prado (Madrid) 2.6 million World Fair in Paris. It depicts the pain and suffering of war, and was inspired by the bombing of the village Guernica. La Casa Mila (Barcelona) 1.1 million The painting became the national symbol of the horrors of the Spanish civil war. The Guernica was originally in the Teatro-museo Dalí (Figueres) 1.1 million Prado in Madrid, but for some years now it has become the showpiece of the modern Reina Sofia museum, also in Museo Picasso (Barcelona) 1 million  Madrid. Salvador Dalí, the Dalí Museum (Figueres) and the paintings The Persistence of Memory and The Tiger