Art in Madrid...

Top of my list of things to do in Madrid was to visit the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza art galleries. I had three full days in Madrid and for part of each day I took on another gallery. 'Took on' literally because these galleries are huge. In Barcelona I added to my understanding of Gaudi, Picasso and Joan Miro. Now, the Prado and the Thyssen have opened up new understandings of Velazquez, Goya and El Greco. I want to go home and do more reading as a result.

All the gallery visits in Holland and Spain have confirmed my preferences. I love the best work from the thirteenth century up until about the early 1600s. Then painting tends to become too ornate, florid and massive for my tastes - so I speed up in galleries. I slow down again in the late 1800s - impressionists, post-impressionists, early modern work. Always in a gallery there are one or two paintings that I return to and don't want to leave. 

One of the things I noticed in this visit, probably because I was exposed to such a lot of art in a very concentrated way, was the development over time of individual artists but also the resonances between artists. A theme or motif from one artist will be picked up, consciously or unconsciously, by another. And of course in every period there are shared styles and themes, accepted ways of communicating. The standout artists are the ones who break the conventions, expand the horizons of art. 

The queues for the major galleries are huge - which is a good sign I guess. Mostly the big galleries soak up the numbers as people disperse throughout. The biggest problem is tour groups which are shuffled from one masterpiece to another. The other problem is photography. It was worst in the Rijksmuseum where everyone was taking photos of paintings and using flashes. It's like a contagion. One person takes photos, others feel they can or should be doing similarly. I would prefer no photos at all, period. 

Having said that I took a few in the Thyssen (photos permitted, no flash) despite feeling bad about doing so!! I am very fond of late medieval and early Renaissance portraiture. And in the Thyssen I noticed in particular how beautiful the frames were (mostly cut off in the photos).

Artist Rodger van der Weyden, c. 1464. Love this face.

Artist Juan de Flandes c. 1496. Possibly Catherine of Aragon.

Artist Amico Aspertini c. 1500 - love his gold chain!

And another Rembrandt self-portrait. I love them all!

Barcelona #6

Phew - I'm two days behind and new experiences and impressions just keep happening...

Yesterday (Wednesday) I took off early for the Sagrada Familia. On the advice of the nuns (another one of those conversations in gestures) I did not go there on Tuesday as I had planned. Instead they booked a ticket for me online, for which I reimbursed them. This meant that I could avoid the 3 hour+ queue for those buying a ticket on the spot!

I knew a little, but not much about the Sagrada Familia. That it was designed by Gaudi and that it had been under construction for the past 100+ years. What I didn't realise was just how much of it is still under construction. When the towers under construction are completed they will be half as high again as the present, completed ones. Given that the present towers look like this...

...then its finished form becomes mind-blowing. 

My photos can't come anywhere near conveying what it is like inside. It is huge. The craftsmanship is superb - sculpture, stained glass, stone work, metal work...

The interior pillars are tree-like. A forest of slender stone columns designed according to Gaudi's organic principles but also with strict mathematics underpinning the conception. 

Outside...

The famous Nativity Facade

New construction proceeding

Ditto

Did I like the Sagrada Familia? Um, not exactly. It's too decorative for me, especially the almost demented Nativity Facade. I feel more moved, spiritually, in a relatively simple space. But, as I learn more about Gaudi and other Catalan artists I am coming to understand better the nature of their art - the cultural influences, the symbolism... The lass who is studying architecture (and who is from El Salvador not the Dominican Republic as I claimed) is particularly interested in Gaudi. We had a good conversation about his work this morning. Gaudi pronounced with the emphasis on the 'i' not on the 'Gau' as I had always thought.

Am I pleased to have seen the Sagrada Familia? Absloutely!

Barcelona #4

My walking yesterday took me to Eglesia de Santa Maria del Mar and Museu Picasso, then to Placa de Cataluyna where I negotiated the metro to the foot of Montjuic. Climbed up past the Museu Nationale d'Art de Cataluyna to the Fundacio Joan Miro. Then funicular back down the hill and a further walk to Gaudi's Palau Guell. By this time I'd been on the hoof for 10 hours!

The 14th century Eglesia de Santa Maria del Mar was splendidly peaceful in the early morning. There was no entrance fee (unlike most other churches). My photos can't begin to capture its magnificence and simplicity (magnificent because of it s simplicity).

The Museu Picasso left me slightly underwhelmed. It concentrated on Picasso's early work plus his 1957 Las Meninas series, but seemed to miss a lot too. However I found a series new to me called The Doves which really made me smile. Not my photo as I didn't take pictures in either Museu Picasso or Fundacio Joan Miro. In the latter they were explicitly not allowed. Good thing. In Amsterdam photo taking in art galleries is endemic and so frustrating.

My climb up Montjuic in the early afternoon heat afforded these views down over parts of the city.

La Sagrada Familia in centre distance

This friendly fellow greeted me at Fundacio Joan Miro. 

I have never been very attracted to Miro's work but I now understand more about him and the influences shaping his painting and sculpture. The Spanish Civil War forms the backdrop to both Miro and Picasso's work of the late 30s. I certainly want to read biographies of Miro and Gaudi when I get home.

Final stop of the day (before dinner) was Palau Guell, designed by Gaudi for Catalan industrial tycoon Eusebi Guell, his wife and 11 children. Again it is impossible to photograph adequately. From the outside it looks like this... 

There is some wonderful domestic stained glass...

This is a ceiling...

And what was to become (later) a Gaudi signature, but is quite different from the rest of this mainly Arts and Crafts-inspired work - on the roof...

Finally, as I made my way back to the convent, a protest in support of gay rights (I'm guessing) in Placa de Sant Jaume.