Fundació Antoni Tàpies: the antidote to perfectionism in an exhibition hall

What is Fundació Antoni Tàpies and where does it come from?

The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is in a building that is already history: the former Montaner i Simon publishing house, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner — the same architect of the Palau de la Música and the Hospital de Sant Pau — between 1881 and 1885. It is the first modernist building in Barcelona, ​​even before Gaudí's iconic works. Tàpies chose this building for his foundation in 1990 and crowned it with his 'Núvol i cadira' (Cloud and Chair), a 6-meter wire sculpture that looks like a gigantic hat. The foundation opened to the public in 1990. Tàpies died in 2012, at the age of 88, after a lifetime converting dust, sand, burnt varnish, dirty rags, walls, into pictorial language.

Why go — and what's the purpose of your appointment with the artist?

If there is a contemporary artist who shows that art can also be clay, is Tàpies. His paintings are not beautiful. They are not comfortable. They are not easy. They are honest. That honesty — the decision not to embellish — is exactly the lesson a creator on block needs. The antidote to perfectionism is not mediocrity. It is material honesty.

How to take advantage of it (concrete practice)

He carries a notebook and draws ONE texture from a painting by Tàpies. Just one. Not the whole picture. A texture. You learn that art can also be clay and that your work can be ugly and still be yours. Antidote to perfectionism in its purest form. Afterwards, go up to the building's garden terrace – few know that it is open to the public – and sit for twenty minutes looking at the 'Núvol i cadira' from below. It is one of the most magical secret corners of Eixample.

Why this place connects with Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way

The practice of the appointment with the artist that Julia Cameron prescribes in The Artist's Path has a principle: creativity needs to be fed before I can produce. Cameron calls it 'filling the well.' The metaphor is exact: if it doesn't rain, the well runs dry. If you don't expose your brain to non-work stimuli once a week, your ability to generate new ideas quietly declines, week by week.

Fundació Antoni Tàpies is an ideal place for a date with the artist because it meets the three conditions that Cameron asks for: It takes you out of your routine (a place other than your work and home), does not require production (you are going to receive, not create), and exposes you to curated stimuli (someone with judgment decided this was worth watching). Three conditions, an hour or two, once a week. It is probably the practice with the best mental ROI that you are going to add to your routine.

If you haven't taken the course yet, this is the place to start. Your Artist's Path is the free 12-week program that applies Julia Cameron's method to your life — including two hours a week blocked off on your calendar for appointments like this. More about the course at the end of the post.