At which café in Barcelona did Picasso hold his first exhibition?

Picasso held his first exhibition at the Barcelona café Els Quatre Gats.

Els Quatre Gats—Catalan for “The Four Cats”—opened in 1897 on the ground floor of Casa Martí, a Modernista building designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Founded by Pere Romeu, who had worked at Paris’s Le Chat Noir, it offered food, music, performances, readings, and a lively setting for young artists.

Picasso began frequenting the café as a teenager after returning to Barcelona from his studies in Madrid. The venue connected him with the city’s modernist and avant-garde circle, including Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol, Miquel Utrillo, and Carlos Casagemas. His first individual exhibition there took place around 1899–1900, depending on how contemporary accounts distinguish early displays from his first solo show.

That dating nuance does not change the answer to the venue question. The tempting alternatives were famous Paris cafés associated with artists, but Picasso’s first Barcelona exhibition belongs specifically to Els Quatre Gats, which reopened as a restaurant in 1989 after its historic era ended in 1903.