Art and Cyclists in Madrid

Art and Cyclists in Madrid

by Friend Jackie Halliday

We've just watched the finish of the Tour de Espangnol as it happened in Madrid - we were in the Prado all day and came out just as the cyclists were about to come through, 500m to the finish! More police though than cyclists! They are everywhere here.

The temperature, when we arrived on Thursday in the late afternoon, was so hot and the light so intense you could hardly open your eyes without sunglasses. It is much more comfortable today, Saturday. A bit of cloud cover - 25 instead of 35. Yesterday we spent 40 mins in a queue in boiling hot sun to get tickets for the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace). We were late getting out as we had spent some time wrestling with the washing machine in the apartment. The owner, Borja, had omitted to tell us a couple of crucial things, like, press the button to turn the tap on first! The Palace contained, among its many treasures, 5 Stradivarius violins, violin cellos and cellos which are still used today on special occasions - and by special musicians I'll bet. All but one are decorated around the edges with inlaid mother of pearl. Ian thought the highlight was the royal armoury which contained an extraordinary collection of medieval suits of armour for men, boys and horses. The ceremonial ones are intricately decorated with etched patterns. The Armoury was also airconditioned which I think added to its attraction.

We've had a great time in the art galleries and have been pacing ourselves so we don't get arted out. Last night we went to the Reina Sofia to see Picasso's Guernica.  It is a huge and very dramatic piece of anti war art painted in 1937 as a response to Germany bombing a small village, Guernica, in northern Spain during the Spanish civil war.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum/Art gallery was our choice to visit first, mainly because of the number of mid 19th to mid 20th century paintings covering the eras of impressionism, post impressionism and cubism in their collection. We find the audio guides at most galleries very useful because it doesn't matter how much you think you know there is always more to learn. One such gleam of information for me was at the first Georges Braque painting, Woman with Mandolin. He and Picasso started the cubist movement. The guide said to look at an object in the hall from different points of view, i.e. walk around it and note them. This is what the cubists did and put all of those points of view on the canvas. He said don't look for the woman with the mandolin but look for elements of her in the painting. Also there is no perspective, which was a significant break with tradition. The background is just as important - the plane is flattened. So there you go!!! Perhaps I could try this on the art course, she ponders. Perhaps not!

They have so many beautiful works of art that we were there 'til late in the day. Thank goodness for cafes in galleries otherwise we would never have lasted. I must say that the coffee here is quite good. Cafe con leche almost approximates a flat white, while a cappucino comes in many varieties. In one case the milk was frothed and the glass put under the coffee machine and the coffee dribbled into it. In another, just the froth was placed on top of the espresso. Hence cafe con leche is a more consistent choice.

Back to art, I particularly liked impressionist artist Berthe Morisot's Girl in a White Dress, where the dress contained faint brushstrokes of pink and blue among the white. You didn't know there were female impressionist did you? Another famous one is Mary Cassat.

The Museo Nacional Del Prado  is one of the top art museums in the world containing 7000 works of art, masterpieces by such as El Greco, Goya, Rubens, and Titian. After seeing Picasso's cubist treatment of the Infanta Margarita in Barcelona, we headed for Velazquez's original Las Meninas. It is considered the most important piece in the collection and takes pride of place in the central, oval, domed hall. It is huge and what struck me most was the way he had painted the 5 year old infanta's hair. It was so natural, pinned to one side, soft and baby-like, in contrast to later portraits where her hair was coiffed with elaborate hairpieces.

On the way we were waylaid by many pieces, particularly El Greco's Adoration of the Shepherds  which seemed to glow from a couple of rooms away. The description on Wikipedia "The infant Christ seems to emit a light which plays off the faces of the barefoot shepherds who have gathered to pay homage to his miraculous birth" is the best way to describe it, but unfortunately the actual image they have posted doesn't do it justice at all. Perhaps you have to see the original.

Some subjects have amusing titles such as Queen Joanna the Mad (seriously), widow of Philip the Fair. Was she mad mad or angry mad? And who decided?

The brochure plan of the Prado contains thumbnail images of what they consider to be their 50 most important masterpieces, so you can cheat and only visit those ones. I have to confess that by the end of the day we did just that, speed visited the ones we hadn't seen. The Prado is so huge that it is easy to lose your way. And if you are visiting with Ian, who examines nearly every work in minute detail to see how the artist has achieved a certain effect, you can appreciate how we ran out of time. I am usually two rooms head of him!

Goya's The Third of May, 1808 was another powerful anti war work. It depicted the execution of Spanish citizens who had rebelled against the invading French army the day before. Instead of glorifying war it showed the terror, resignation and plain disbelief on the faces of the victims lined up to be shot by firing squad. Like Picasso's Guernica, it actually made you feel sick.

This wasn't to be last of our anti war art works. Walking through the Parque del Retiro the next day we came across, quite by accident, an exhibtion by a New York artist Leon Golub. Golub, who died in 2004, spent his lifetime "depicting scenes of conflict and masculine aggression as a way of getting at the real". His Vietnam war series were huge, stark, and his response to Guernica. He also used slogans such as "We will disapear you" and "This can happen to you" to highlight the USA's foreign policy in central America during the 50s and 60s. Very depressing really. I think after this we needed something uplifting so went for a row on the lake in the park and had an ice cream. Wandering on further we found the Crystal Palace which, again to our surprise, contained a performance installation about political and economic movements of the 20th Century. I think we have gained a new appreciation of installations as a means of communication.

Although rather noisy at night, our apartment in Madrid is in a great location in the old city, 10 mins walk to each of the three main galleries. It is very compact yet has everything we need. Cafe El Azul, just around the corner, has wifi, so we have become regulars.

Last night was the closest we've had to Spanish hours - we had a meal at 10pm! Being in an apartment has meant we can sneak back and have cheese and tomato on toast when we are peckish. There are lots of Supermercados (the box of muesli we got had a competition, the prize for which was a series of sessions with Les Mills!) around and this is when I regret not having taken those Spanish lessons before we left. There is only so much point and nod you can do. The lady in the Vodafone shop had the right idea. She just opened up Google Translate, I typed in my question and there it was in Spanish!

Onto another subject entirely - the Temple of Debod. This 2nd century Egyptian Temple, sited near the Palacio Real, was Egypt's gift to Spain in 1968 for their assistance in moving Abu Simbel to higher ground when the Aswan Dam was built. They had a model of the Nile with all the temples in situ before Lake Nasser was formed. They showed where each temple is now and if it had been moved or not. It was good to see that only one small temple had been flooded. The on/off bus was useful in getting us there without having to walk in the heat.

Off to Seville tomorrow.