01-19-2016, 05:59 PM
I'm still a little travel sick, but I'm only got thru Day 1 of Spain. The next day was the Prado, one of the world's greatest art museums. We spent all day there and I'm not sure we saw it all. It was unbelievable. A staggering collection of ancient roman, medieval and Renaissance art housed in a magnificent labyrinth of a building. So much ART! Goya's black period, which occupies a full room in the back, was hauntingly dark and morbid and took my breath away. Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, a painting I've studied since high school - in person, it was all about processing being forcibly sodomized. I made a study of Art Brut in college - art by the clinically insane - and the message is so clear. Even the central figure on the hell side, the broken half body self portrait, has that telling look. Why didn't I see that before? Seeing it in person took it from hysterical to utterly horrifying. So El Greco, a personal fav, who's crucifixions I studied in high school. Titian, Durer, Tintoretto, Rafael, Rubens, even a Rembrandt. So many masters I'd only read about, so moving. And of course, Velazquez's Las Meninas, enshrined in a central hall with all the reverence she deserves - what a masterpiece. We had a splendid time getting lost there, making discoveries, and just adoring the astounding collection. That was a full day.
But the next day was even fuller. We toured the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which goes from medieval to impressionism. More El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, but now add Pissaro, Monet, Renoir, Lautrec, Gauguin, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and the two masters I really came to Spain to see - Picasso and my personal favorite, Dali. In fact, Spain was a Dali pilgrimage for me, a major check off the bucket list, as I've worshiped his work since high school, back when I fancied myself an artist. Tara ruined still life paintings for me by commenting that those were the first food selfies. What is really nice about the Thyssen is that if you start at the top and work your way down, it's chronological, so you can see the progression. The renn painters and their scientific realism, such craftsmanship, and then along comes Van Gogh to blow the doors off it all with such color. Standing in front of such masterpieces, it's like compressing an epic novel or a major film into one comprehensive snapshot. I get chills sometimes as my eyes cross the canvas. It's ecstatic. After that, we made it to the Reina Sofia, a museum of modern art (all three museums are right next to each other) - Man Ray, Magritte, Ernst, Klee, Rivera - some serious Picasso and Dali. This houses Guernica as it's centerpiece. I must say the Guernica was a lot more faded in person, not as moving as I expected. It's really a dull grey. However the preliminary works and development documented alongside it were really interesting. I never realized before how Ralph Steadman was really just bad Picasso. Picasso had those strokes going on long before Steadman. And the Bauhaus stuff was really amusing, rekindling my interest in that odd genre. But here's where Dali started to really emerge. Where the Thyssen had a major piece, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, it's a small one. The Sofia had several larger pieces like the Great Masturbator and the Enigma of Hitler. So awesome. Then, after gorging ourselves on two solid days of art, we went to see Despartar De La Fuerza - Star Wars. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was like going from the richest cultural treasures to the epitome of pop culture. What an incredible first three days in Madrid.
But the next day was even fuller. We toured the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which goes from medieval to impressionism. More El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, but now add Pissaro, Monet, Renoir, Lautrec, Gauguin, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and the two masters I really came to Spain to see - Picasso and my personal favorite, Dali. In fact, Spain was a Dali pilgrimage for me, a major check off the bucket list, as I've worshiped his work since high school, back when I fancied myself an artist. Tara ruined still life paintings for me by commenting that those were the first food selfies. What is really nice about the Thyssen is that if you start at the top and work your way down, it's chronological, so you can see the progression. The renn painters and their scientific realism, such craftsmanship, and then along comes Van Gogh to blow the doors off it all with such color. Standing in front of such masterpieces, it's like compressing an epic novel or a major film into one comprehensive snapshot. I get chills sometimes as my eyes cross the canvas. It's ecstatic. After that, we made it to the Reina Sofia, a museum of modern art (all three museums are right next to each other) - Man Ray, Magritte, Ernst, Klee, Rivera - some serious Picasso and Dali. This houses Guernica as it's centerpiece. I must say the Guernica was a lot more faded in person, not as moving as I expected. It's really a dull grey. However the preliminary works and development documented alongside it were really interesting. I never realized before how Ralph Steadman was really just bad Picasso. Picasso had those strokes going on long before Steadman. And the Bauhaus stuff was really amusing, rekindling my interest in that odd genre. But here's where Dali started to really emerge. Where the Thyssen had a major piece, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, it's a small one. The Sofia had several larger pieces like the Great Masturbator and the Enigma of Hitler. So awesome. Then, after gorging ourselves on two solid days of art, we went to see Despartar De La Fuerza - Star Wars. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was like going from the richest cultural treasures to the epitome of pop culture. What an incredible first three days in Madrid.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse