Adiós Modelo

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During the summer of 2017, photographer Josep Maria de Llobet was commissioned to document Barcelona’s Modelo Prison immediately after its closure as a penitentiary institution. The project sought both to record the architectural state of the building at a pivotal moment of transition and to capture the traces of time and history embedded within a site that, for more than a century, had been one of the city’s most controversial landmarks.
For over one hundred years, La Modelo stood as a physical and symbolic island within Barcelona, enclosed by imposing walls and designed according to Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon model. This architecture was conceived to create a constant sense of surveillance, allowing a single guard to observe inmates without being seen. Beyond restricting physical freedom, such a system erased privacy and imposed a condition of permanent visibility and vulnerability.
De Llobet’s project, Adiós Modelo is both a historical record and an artistic reflection. Granted unrestricted access to the prison, he photographed every corner of the building: cells, corridors, exercise yards, dining halls and kitchens. Rather than focusing on drama or sensationalism, his images examine the everyday traces of confinement: worn surfaces, abandoned objects, marks on walls and the subtle signs of lives once lived within these spaces.
Aware that imprisonment is an experience that cannot be fully conveyed, de Llobet adopts a restrained and respectful visual language. Frontal compositions, balanced framing and an apparent objectivity allow viewers to engage directly with the architecture and construct their own interpretations. This sobriety enhances the symbolic weight of the prison and quietly evokes the realities of life behind its walls.
As Martí Peran, Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at the University of Barcelona, notes, the work transcends its documentary purpose. Through a careful examination of the prison’s forms, volumes and spatial relationships, de Llobet reveals the “punitive mathematics” embedded within the building, transforming a factual record into a deeper reflection on power, control and memory.
The project also incorporates a testimonial dimension. De Llobet interviewed former political prisoners, prison staff and directors. These voices, woven into the book, create a dialogue between image and memory, enriching the visual narrative and offering a more nuanced understanding of a place that remains deeply embedded in Barcelona’s collective history.