Madrid is a beautiful city, and the impression that stays with me is that it is a city of art. The architecture is lovely, and there are a large number of pieces of public art on the streets and in the parks. The most amazing works, however, are behind museum walls.
There are over 20 museums in Madrid, and three of them are world-class art museums: the Prado, the Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. Individually they rival some of the best museums in the world, and together they are both breathtaking and exhausting. Everywhere you look there are works by artists that even I can recognize, and there are other beautiful paintings and sculptures by people that I had never known before.
Seeing just how detailed these works are gives me a new perspective on the mastery of the artists. Photographs generally don’t show the path of brushstrokes or the thickness of paint on canvas, and can lose some of the color shading. Google has been working to show some of this detail with a project that makes close-ups of portions of famous paintings available on-line. It is work checking out.
There are huge crowds around many of the famous works. There must have been over a hundred people trying to get a better look at Picasso’s Guernica. It took patience to move slowly to the front which was still at least ten feet from the painting.
The photograph of Guernica doesn’t do it justice, as it is huge. It is also terrifying, as Picasso captured the raw emotion of those caught up in war. Germany had bombed the town of Guernica in 1937, and Picasso was motivated by photographs of the aftermath of that bombing to begin this work. This painting has long been considered a statement against all war, and continues to be an iconic plea for peace in the world.
There are so many wonderful paintings, sculptures, and drawings that it can become overwhelming. After hundreds of viewings, I found myself thinking, “That one’s not so great.” Right. It’s only one of the finest paintings in the world, it’s just not quite so famous as a Picasso or a Rembrandt.
The art ranges from Salvadore Dali’s surrealism to classic representational works by Diego Velazquez and Francisco de Goya. Much of the Renaissance art is found at the Prado museum, while both the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza include more modern pieces.
The Annunciation by Fra Angelico is my favorite religious painting. I saw it years ago in a traveling exhibition, and I have admired it ever since. It is large — it was painted as an altarpiece, and it is composed of three panels. If you go to this page from the Prado, you can zoom in and see the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending to Mary.
This is a photo of the center panel of a triptych. ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ (‘El Jardín de las Delicias’) by Hieronymus Bosch is a particularly complex piece, and considering the crowd around it, a very popular one. It depicts the sinful pleasures of “earthly delights:” sex, eating, and entertainment. The other panels show Adam and Eve in paradise and Hell, with fire, torture, and bizarre creatures. Heading to this page at the Prado allows you to see some of the strange detail that came from Bosch’s imagination.
Madrid became a center for art due to the many commissions that were made for royal families over the years. Artists arrived to please the king and queen of Spain, and soon other buyers and art lovers followed. The art in Madrid offers an amazing variety of perspectives and a fantastic range of styles. Small art galleries and street art fairs constantly provide new material, and the city itself offers intriguing architecture and natural beauty. I can’t wait to go back.
