Eu Amo Madrid.
Enchanted. In love. Inspired. Overwhelmed. (In a good way.)
Today I spent most of my day devouring the art of Madrid. Well. Starting with the museums. I made my way to the Prado and the Reiner Sofia and walked through room upon room of every great painter you can imagine.
The Prado - a more classical concentration. I saw many paintings I had seen for years in books and bad projectors (which did the actual pieces no justice). They were awesome. I don't mean a regular awesome. I mean awe. some. Awe inspiring. Epic. Rembrandt. Goya. Velazquez. One intense image after another. Renoir's "Adam & Eve". Religious images that I normally would not glance at twice which left me speechless. Fully without words. And at points left me a clumsy mess. I took a break at a local shop, El Brilhante, for a vino tinto and a bocadillo and ogled the outside of the Reiner Sofia, imagining what I would find inside.
And what a glory it was! I walked in and was happy that for the first time, I decided to shell out the couple of bucks for an audio guide of the exhibition. 4 euros magnificently spent. I walked through endless rooms of all walks of art. Paintings. Sculptures. Mixed media. Printmaking. Mainly contemporary works. There were endless Picassos. Dalis. Man Rays. Miros. And then. Guernica. One of my favorite pieces. And I can't even express how intense it was to walk into the same room. Chills. Hairs on end. I stared. And stared. And stared. Lost my breath in it's size and texture. Daydreaming about what it might have been like to be in the same room while it was being made, with the help of some photos which somewhat followed its progression. And all I hoped was that the other people who were in that room felt the same. I would like to think they did...
The museum was also screening "Un Chien Andalou" by Dali and Bunuel which I had seen bits and pieces of but decided it was time to see it in its entirety. And it was as ridiculously brilliant as you might imagine. On the brink of sheer madness of course. Thank you Dali- for turning the world on its side. Over and over again. The rest of my visit at the Reiner Sofia consisted of deep breaths and trying to collect myself. It sounds comical. I know. But today I spent minute upon minute eating art with my eyes. With my heart. And as if that wasn't enough I found two dvds I had been searching for during the last 10 years. Calder's "Le Cirque" and Dali and Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou". Hmmmm. Region friendly? Who knows! They are with me now and even if I have to cuddle them and imagine them in my mind, I am one happy lady...