5th coupDefouet International Congress on Art Nouveau — Barcelona

The Art Nouveau European Route convenes the fifth coupDefouet International Congress on Art Nouveau in Barcelona, from 5 to 8 November 2026. The congress is organised jointly with Barcelona City Council and the University of Barcelona, and its guiding question is set out in the title it has been given: Art Nouveau: New or Modern Architecture?

The main thematic strand proposes to explore fresh perspectives on Art Nouveau architecture and its contribution to a new or modern architecture — the question of whether the style was a last flourish of the nineteenth century or the first move of the twentieth. Linked to it, the second strand is devoted to Antoni Gaudí and his legacy in modern architecture, in the year of the centenary of his death.

A third strand turns to the relationship between Art Nouveau and music, from instruments to compositions: across Europe this was an intense association, and one the organisers consider still in need of research. A fourth section is given over to research and doctoral theses in progress, so that doctoral students and established researchers present their analyses side by side.

The sessions begin on Thursday 5 November and run to Sunday 8 November. As is customary at a coupDefouet congress, a wider programme of Art Nouveau cultural activities runs in the city from 1 to 15 November, open at no charge to those enrolled in the congress — worth bearing in mind when planning the length of a stay.

Practical details

• When: 5–8 November 2026 (cultural programme 1–15 November)
• Where: Barcelona, Spain
• Convened by: Art Nouveau European Route (Ruta Europea del Modernisme)
• Organised jointly by: Barcelona City Council and the University of Barcelona
• Registration: the organisers’ published rate is €150 until 15 October 2026, rising to €250 for late registration; members of the Art Nouveau Club have a reserved rate through the Club website. The fee covers all sessions, refreshment breaks, official meals, the activities programmed around the congress, and access to the written versions of the papers, most of which are made available beforehand.
• Information and registration: artnouveau.eu

The city the congress is held in

Barcelona is where Catalan Modernisme left its densest concentration of buildings, and the congress sits inside that archive rather than beside it. Our own pages on the city cover Gaudí and the Catalan Modernisme as a whole, and in detail Casa Batlló, Park Güell and Lluís Domènech i Montaner’s Hospital de Sant Pau — the last of these a reminder that the congress’s central question was being asked by the architects themselves, in brick and tile, well before it was asked at a conference table.