During one of his stays in Colliure, Henri Matisse painted a small-format landscape, La Moulade. With the characteristic colorist fury of Fauvism, the painting is made up of a series of vivid color patches: red, green, blue, yellow. The lines are entirely secondary. La Moulade measures only 28.6 x 35.7 centimeters, but for another Fauvist, André Derain, this painting is like "dynamite." This is recalled by Aurélie Verdier, chief curator of the Modern Collections of the National Museum of Modern Art - Centre Pompidou and also curator of the exhibition at CaixaForum Barcelona Chez Matisse. The Legacy of a New Painting, which opens its doors this Friday.

A daughter's first steps, the excitement of Three Kings' Day, a honeymoon in the Canary Islands, a family visit to Montserrat, or even a wild birth. For a century, the craze for recording memorable moments of everyday life has grown exponentially. The evolution of technology, from the first portable 16mm film cameras of 1923—the camera used by Mandronita Andreu, the daughter of Dr. Andreu—to the proliferation of smartphones with cameras in the late 2000s, along with changes in film format, has expanded the possibilities of home cinema. An exhibition at CaixaForum in Barcelona celebrates this entire non-professional audiovisual legacy, which for years has been overlooked, as a heritage with incalculable sociological, historical, and aesthetic value. Furthermore, it even encourages visitors to preserve their home movies and donate them to their local archives and museums, as valuable material not only for families but for society as a whole. History is being written today with the cameras on our mobile phones.

It was May 1991, and the National Palace, located at the foot of Montjuïc, was being remodeled to become the permanent home of the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC). It was a time of transition and chaos. In a storage room, there was a metal cabinet containing a jewel: the Sijena peace-bearer, a unique piece of Gothic goldsmithing dating back to 1400. It was a small piece, about ten centimeters, made of precious materials, which, without anyone noticing, disappeared.

"We want visitors to leave as agents of change, eager to make small gestures to build a better and more sustainable future." These are the words with which Mireia Domingo, director of CaixaForum, defines the exhibition's intention. We are Nature which opens its doors this Thursday, September 18, and inaugurates the museum's season. It is an immersive experience that combines art, science, and technology to immerse visitors in the beauty and fragility of the natural world. It aims to raise awareness about the great dangers that threaten the planet and inspire us to act to stop them.

The Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra (Sittard, Netherlands, 1959) had exceptional access to The Night Watch, Rembrandt's most famous painting and one of his masterpieces. The painting is on display in the honor gallery of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and at the museum's request, Dijkstra was able to film in the same gallery how fourteen groups of people from different generations looked at it and commented on it. His goal wasn't to film the painting, but the viewers. The work lasted six days, and the result is a video installation with the same title as the painting. It was purchased by the La Caixa Foundation and can now be seen in an exhibition at CaixaForum in Barcelona until October 26.

In this new season, the La Caixa Foundation has set out to "analyze reality from very diverse perspectives," as stated by Isabel Salgado, director of exhibitions, collections and CaixaForum+. For example, the first of this fall's proposals is the result of the dialogue between science and art, which is often found in CaixaForum exhibitions. It is We are nature, an immersive audiovisual experience produced by Oasis Immersive Studios and National Geographic. "It offers a powerful and contemporary look at biodiversity on Earth. It's an exhibition that premiered in Montreal on the occasion of the G-20 summit and is coming to Europe for the first time with the CaixaForum," says Salgado. The tour is divided into three immersive spaces that address the power of natural regeneration, the awareness that humans are part of it, and the resilience of nature. "It's also an exhibition that reminds us how powerful a tool art can be in civilization and that perfectly recognizes this idea of the optimistic message, the need for art and the universe that we work on," explains Salgado.

If you could have dinner with any artist—living or dead—who would you choose? The director of the Prado Museum, Miguel Falomir, doesn't think twice: "I would choose Rubens, clearly. I don't like cursed painters. He was a happy man; he married twice and he did so in love. He was cultured, enjoyed art, and lived with the joy that his own lives exude." Specifically, the new exhibition at the CaixaForum in Barcelona, ​​​​titled Rubens and the artists of the Flemish Baroque, captures this "way of being in life and in the world" of the Flemish painter. Courtier and diplomat, Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640) left behind fundamental works for the history of art. Some, such as The Immaculate Conception (1628-1629) and The Judgment of Paris (1638) can be seen at the CaixaForum until September 21, in an exhibition consisting of around sixty pieces from the Prado's collections, around fifteen of which have been restored for the occasion. "of those who had talent." Following in the footsteps of this attitude, the exhibition includes works by the painter, but also by his contemporaries and disciples, some of whom became mainstays of the Flemish Baroque, such as Anton van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, and Jan Brueghel the Elder. The King's retail from the Trasta workshop painter welcomes you to the exhibition. "It was his nerve center and evoked a way of working," explains the exhibition's curator, José Juan Pérez Preciado.

There are jobs that carry a lot of responsibility, but they are also a privilege. Alicia Peral, curator of the Prado Museum, defines her work as the institution's courier, that is, as one of the people in charge of accompanying works of art during transfers and ensuring they arrive safely. The Judgment of ParisRubens's painting arrived at the CaixaForum in Barcelona exactly as it left the Prado, and the painting was installed in the museum with the necessary conditions to ensure its good conservation. It was a five-day transfer that involved two large trucks, the sharp eyes of the conservator, and a door at the CaixaForum that had to be cut so that the work could enter directly into the room where it will be exhibited from May 29 to September 21, as part of the exhibition. Rubens and the artists of the Flemish Baroque.