So I'm finally updating about Madrid which was quite a while ago but i've been pretty lax about these posts. First off let me start by saying that Madrid is far too large for me to have covered in the weekend that I was there- I'm convinced I could spend a week in the prado and never see the same painting twice- but I'm going to post my whirlwind attempt here.
Friday night we did sort of a walking tour of part of Madrid- which is always interesting with Armando-both sarcastically and legitimately- the man is the fittest 59 year old alive but also happens to be about as knowledgeable about everything as encyclopedia brittanica- so it's worth huffing and puffing to stay up with him. After the brief tour we went out for tapas with Armando at a little tapas bar that has a pretty cool little story. It's a young couple that owns it- the girl is american from california- she did the program a number of years ago, met a Spaniard, fell in love with him, finished school and moved to Spain. Well with the global economy being what it is, and Spain's unemployment rate peaking at 17% the two of them were essentially unemployed and working odd jobs to make it. After a while of doing this though they came to a realization- the man was a pretty good cook, there were cheap, tiny, spaces for rent that could be picked up and converted for virtually nothing, and so long story short: they took the leap of faith, got a space and now have a happenin (and quite tasty) tapas bar.
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| This photo is a really bad representation of it but this was the first night close to the plaza del sol which is kind of like the Spanish version of Times Square |
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| So this was Ernest Hemmingway's favorite restaurant, which is supposed to be very good but is pretty wicked expensive and hard to get into without a reservation anyway...so that was a no go for this guy. |
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| So this is a market that was constructed out of steel around the same time as the eiffel tower (and the senate library). Recently it was revamped and now is a really cool tapas place- This was not the place we ate friday, but I made a little pilgrimage back on Saturday and ate some of the best cheese i've ever tasted here- and fun fact-I think the girl behind the cheese counter was happy that I was trying to speak Spanish, and for that I was rewarded with a few extra wedges of cheese-win. |
Then it was off to the parts that I was most looking forward to: art museums. First off I should mention that Madrid is my kind of city: more square feet of art museum space per capita than any other city- even Paris- with something like 15 museums, and that doesn't even include the gallery spaces. So the crown jewels of the Museum scene in Madrid? Reina Sofia and The Prado. The Reina Sofia is the contemporary museum- it's located in an old catholic hospital but has recently had expansions and alterations creating a space that is somewhere between old and new but mostly just enormous. Now with only 2 hours (I KNOW!) to see this I kind of doubt I saw even a tenth of the space, but highlights include lots of Dali's, a few Miro's, and ofcourse, the one and only Picasso's Guernica. A word on this painting and the man behind it. At the risk of being heavily criticized and possibly shunned by my art history cohorts, I've never been a HUGE Picasso fan. There, I said it. I always respected his work, I for the most part understood what he was doing, and sure, some of the pieces I liked but I really didn't have any that I was really blown away by. The same goes for Guernica- here is possibly his most famous painting, which has a really cool story behind both the piece but also the pieces story-the latter i'll recount here. Picasso made the piece during the Franco era, but devoutly refused to display it in Spain until Franco was no longer in power, and only on the condition that it was hung in the Prado. So in the meantime it hung in the US at the MOMA, until finally it was returned to Spain-not in the Prado, because it seemed a little out of place, but in the Reina Sofia-not too shabby if you ask me. Anyway- the moral of the story- I saw Guernica, I loved it- I finally get why folks go nuts for this piece.
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| So this is ONE of the two sides of the reina sofia- it wouldn't fit in the entire shot |
And finally, the Prado, my little version of Cielo. Now I know that I'm technically a contemporary art history major, but don't let that fool you, I nerd out over the old school work even more than the contemporary stuff sometimes...and this was one of those times. First off, this building is massive...and unlike a number of museums that may have lots of space and a large, somewhat important collection that really is just kind of your appetizer for their crown jewel, the Prado is essentially and enormous maze of amazing artwork-painting after painting is sensory overload- It was kind of like taking about half of the art works I learned about in my years of art history classes and having them displayed to me one after another. Again we were only alloted 2 hours here so it was unbelievably painful for me as Armando basically dragged me past the HALLWAY of Rubens (one of my favorites) and then whizzed past the goyas- all of which were on display- 3rd of may, the entire dark period INCLUDING saturn devouring his children (which is awesome but FYI a lot smaller than I had anticipated). Then it was a quick trip past the enormous collection of el Greco which are all on display here for the time being while his museum is being renovated in Toledo (see next post on Toledo) and then a quick trip past Bosch's garden of earthly delights (which is completely amazing and makes you wonder- 15th century? really? how'd he get away with that one?) Then flew past a Giotto (way better in person megan sander) and a quick rest in front of the one and only Las Meninas by Velazquez. which in case you were wondering- yes is talked about more than virtually every spaniard when they talk about art...and well...there's a reason for that. So the only downside apart from the whirlwind tour was what will be referred to as the Caravaggio incident. Who is Caravaggio you ask? Only the most amazing, bad-boy, all around infamous as much as he is famous painter of the baroque period, creator of tenebrism, and if you've seen my caravaggio presentation, responsible for opening a floodgate of artists inspired but my favorite artist of all time. So it was the perfect opportunity: the Prado has Caravaggio's david with the head of goliath- which would have been my first experience seeing in person a Caravaggio from his most famous period (the Kimbell in Dallas has his card sharps which is good but is an earlier painting and not characteristic of his iconic style). So we talked a docent, got the room number of the great master's work, went up to it AND...it is on lone until May in Russia....Which is unfortunate of course, but gives me a great excuse to drag my parents to the Prado (at least long enough to see that painting) when they come to visit in June.
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| The Prado |
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| my little shout out to Dr. Marcus Rautman |
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| And finally, although i didn't go- the museo de jamon deserves a shout out- there are tons of these around the city- the idea: flawless |
