Museum Hopping in Madrid: Reina Sofía

　Since I’m in Madrid, let’s start visiting some museums right away.

　The Prado Museum. It’s an enormous museum and famous worldwide. Madrid has three major museums, but the Prado is on another level in terms of size.

　Here, I took in dark-toned masterpieces such as The Garden of Earthly Delights and paintings by Goya. The room lined with Goya’s works was deliberately dimly lit, and seeing Saturn Devouring His Son in that shadowy, enveloping space made it all the more powerful.

　Most of the collection on display consists of religious paintings.

　Then I walked about ten minutes straight on to the Reina Sofía. Honestly, “Reina Sofía” sounds much cooler than the Japanese name, National Museum of Queen Sofía Art Center. I really loved this museum. It is filled with works by Picasso and Dalí, both from Spain, and you can really feel the spirit of the country through them.

　By the way, many places in Madrid have time slots when admission is free, and if you plan your route cleverly, it’s even possible to visit all three major museums and places like the Royal Palace without paying. That said, doing so raises the difficulty level considerably.

　There were also contemporary art exhibits, with plenty of theatrical flair.

　When the building is large, the impact of the exhibitions feels even greater.

　And there it is—Guernica.

　Nothing short of overwhelming.

　I had looked at it countless times in art history books, but seeing it at its actual size makes a completely different impression. The madness and bitterness embedded in the details are deeply unsettling. Just being able to trace Picasso’s changing Cubist style made the trip to Spain worthwhile (though my main reason for coming is to speak at an event!).

　The blurred lines of the face inside the bull’s head are horrifying. This kind of fear can only really be conveyed at full scale. You should all head to Madrid yourselves.

　Eyes, nose, teeth, light.

　Picasso, before his abstract style had fully emerged.

　Joan Miró was Spanish too. You can enjoy plenty of his work at the Reina Sofía.

　A comparatively restrained Miró. I personally liked this painting quite a lot, though I can’t explain why. It simply drew me in somehow. I may have spent longer looking at this piece than any other.

　The joy of being able to view Dalí’s paintings up close.

　I was overwhelmed by their delicate smoothness and grotesque lines. Picasso, Dalí, Miró—I found myself intoxicated by the strange, exquisite works of these uniquely complex Spanish painters.

　Contemporary art.

　Madrid is among the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world, and same-sex couples are everywhere in the city. Apparently, the turning point was the repression and liberation that followed the dictatorship. It’s not at all unusual to see gay couples kissing in public. The suffering and aesthetics of same-sex love also appear in the art on display, and in one section, filled with anguish and defiance in response to AIDS at the time, you can feel the strength of human will.

　Spain still bears deep scars from dictatorship and civil war up through the 1980s, and perhaps because of that, the explosive energy that came after overcoming such repression can be seen in many forms and in its diversity.

　From here I’ll continue on through Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao, and learn even more.

　That said, Europe is really hot during the daytime!