The 'Yellow Tractor' Night at the MNAC

What happens on Museum Night stays on Museum Night. And things happen that don't happen every day. For example, entering the Oval Room of the MNAC to the rhythm of songs like " Yellow Tractor ." With great joy.

The evening starts early, at seven in the evening, at the MEAM, the European Museum of Modern Art, with a different activity: a clothed model is painted by successive groups of young artists. It's striking to see seven girls at seven easels painting the model's face: it seems like a journey through the different styles and techniques of art history. The audience watches in silence. One girl looks on, fascinated. She'd like to be part of the next shift. It won't be possible. Two thousand people will enter the MEAM during the evening; the tickets distributed through the reservation system have been sold out for days. People are fascinated by a monumental painting by Gennady Ulibin titled, appropriately for these times, The Apocalypse Diaries , a hyperrealist blend of Game of Thrones and the spirit of Ingmar Bergman.

People queue at the Moco in case they miss out on reservations, and Amazonian sounds play at the CCCB.

Less than thirty meters away, the queues for the neighboring Picasso Museum can be seen—20 or 25 minutes to get in, the gatekeepers explain. One of them has to answer another question: “No, this is the Picasso, the Moco is further ahead.” Indeed, it's also just a few meters away. 1,200 people with reservations will be getting in, and those who didn't get one are waiting in line in case there's no crowd. “We're looking forward to seeing it, let's see if we can get in,” two young people say. Between the Picasso and the Moco, the beautiful Museum of Ethnology and World Cultures has no lines, and people who don't want to wait have an easy time.

The evening continues at 8:30 in another hub: Montjuïc. Specifically, at the MNAC (National Art Museum of Contemporary Art), whose entrance is, as always, packed with tourists watching the fabulous sunset. Now they can also enter for free. The MNAC's activities literally target all audiences. On one hand, museum staff explain the new works in the collection to the large audience. And one ends up hooked on the story of Retrat de Manolita Piña by Torres-García. A portrait of a self-taught young bourgeois woman about whom he wrote glowingly in the magazine Fémina , whom he taught, and whose career he broke—"as happened to so many women," the instructor incisively remarks—by marrying her. Manolita would end up organizing the workshop, the foundation, and, after her death, the museum of the great artist in Uruguay.

In short, in the grand foyer of the MNAC, no explanation is needed: the Taller de Músics' Marxing Band plays, to the rhythm of percussion and wind instruments, songs you wouldn't expect to hear within the walls of the Museu Nacional. First, and connecting with the Eurovision night that many were going to miss, is Que la detenan (Detain Her) by Eurovision contestant David Civera. Then comes Tractor amarillo (Yellow Tractor ). It's the latest trend. The audience goes wild. And with more songs, they enter the Oval Room, where another group, Potser Dimarts, is already waiting for them.

Just three metro stops away, the night can end at a very different pace at the CCCB, where there are short lines to see its exhibitions, both comic book artist Chris Ware's and Amazonias: The Future of the Planet , which closes next week. In the lobby, sound artist Nahun Saldaña plays evocative and ambient Amazonian sounds that invite us to reconnect with landscapes we can still protect. Incidentally, for those who preferred Eurovision, today is International Museum Day.