Mies Van der Rohe, Barcelona Chair for Alivar

LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE (Germany, 1886 – U.S., 1969) for Alivar.
“Barcelona” Chair, designed for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
Chrome-plated steel frame, removable comfort cushions upholstered in white leather with button tufting.
Alivar stamp on the upholstery.
Measurements: 75 x 75 x 75 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.

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 soon forced him to emigrate to the United States. 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.