Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona Chair for Knoll

LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE (Germany, 1886 – U.S., 1969) for KNOLL.
"Barcelona" Chair.
Chrome-plated steel frame, removable comfort cushions upholstered in brown leather with button tufting. Lower upholstery with leather straps.
Comes with Knoll certificate and seal.
Unused. In original packaging. Brand new.
Measurements: 75 x 75 x 77 cm. Packaging measurements: 84 x 89 x 84 cm.

The Barcelona Chair (model MR90) is a classic work of 20th-century industrial design. Mies van der Rohe created it, along with the matching ottoman and side table, for the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition—a building that was itself a landmark in the architecture of the last century. The chairs were so admired that they were used as thrones for the kings of Spain when they visited the Barcelona Pavilion. These were chairs with a frame made entirely of polished stainless steel, with the seat and backrest fully covered in pigskin leather upholstery. Later, in 1950, some adjustments were made to the design to enable mass production. Van der Rohe based his creation—in keeping with his personal style of modern classicism—on the “sella curulis,” a type of seat used by Roman magistrates in antiquity. Furthermore, the exposed joints of the stretcher frame and seat springs as separate components, along with the combined use of traditional and modern materials—each appropriately tailored to its function—eloquently reveal Mies’s personal vision of the International Style. Today, the Barcelona Chair, along with the matching ottoman and side table, continues to be produced by Knoll, the company that purchased the license from the architect in 1953. The modern models are manufactured in two different steel configurations and in various types of leather in different colors. Examples of the Barcelona Chair are currently preserved in major collections around the world, such as that of MoMA in New York.

An architect and industrial designer, Mies van der Rohe trained under Bruno Paul and Meter Behrens and opened his own studio in Berlin in 1912. Between 1930 and 1933, he directed the Bauhaus in Dessau, although the political situation in Germany forced him to emigrate to the United States shortly thereafter. There, he continued his brilliant career while also teaching at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Throughout his career, he designed iconic buildings primarily in Germany and the United States, most notably his skyscrapers in New York and Chicago, the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.