Looking Twice at Art in Madrid

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This is an article I’ve tried to write a thousand times. Or ten at the very least and that’s long enough for me. Rarer still, I’ve navel gazed, wondering after drafts one, two, three (and the rest) what it is about art in Madrid that slows me down.

You see, it’s not personal (and yet it is.)

It’s a fascinating subject – and yet I fear it will bore you.

It’s a fact filled subject – and yet the facts are not important.

In reality, it’s nothing short of a total re-examination of the way of the way I thought about art in Spain (or indeed in the world at large.)

And either it will be a revelation for you. Or, it will not, and I will look foolish.

There, that’s the bug with writing this piece. In fact, I think that’s what stops so many of us from thinking about and appreciating art overall. Somewhere, quietly perhaps, or blazing along like merry decibels in the sky, we’ve got the notion that art is something we have to be clever about.

Something that has to be taught, something that’s wildly pretentious, something that’s not for people like us.

The spoiler alert for this whole shindig is, of course, that art is exactly for people like us because art is exactly for people. Not certain people, not qualified people. All people. (Although, even I can spot the irony in this rabble rousing paragraph in that it was hyper-qualified art folk who helped me to realise this.)

But never mind. As one guy said (who was good with a paintbrush)

Art washes away the dust from everyday life. Picasso.

Art may well wash away the dust of daily life, but the art world often washes away ideas, enjoyment and curiosity in those who don’t breathe its jargon.

Well, I’m here today to tell you that’s rubbish. You don’t need to “know” art to like it. But a little bit of knowledge does make more of it come to life.

And when it comes to having so much of it all in one place, there’s no better place than Spain.

Madrid, in particular, with a side trip to Barcelona.

Art in Madrid

Madrid’s Golden Triangle of Art

Three behemoth art museums sit squat amid the leafy avenues of Madrid, leading art lovers to call it “the golden triangle.”

The least conspicuous museum, spilling from the slopes of the (literally) gilded literary quarter is the Thyssen (well, that’s Mr Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza to you.)

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

The Thyssen demonstrates just what happens when scientists are left in charge of curating art. Chemist Thyssen-Bornemisza and his industrialist father before him set about collecting the periodic table of painting: images that represent almost every crucial step of development as art progressed.

• Thus, you can walk from flat two-dimensional religious paintings and see the development of perspective (hard to believe, but for most of mankind’s history, no-one had thought to draw parallel lines as meeting at a point in the distance.)

• It becomes startlingly obvious when gilded techniques arrive (plus it’s laughable to see patrons snuck into religious scenes from thousands of years ago like celebrity cameos in sitcoms today.)

• You can spot the Flemish masters from the grey outdoor light and flat horizons, the flourish of the Renaissance in Florence and Venice through a blast of radiant sunshine colour. There’s one of the iconic pictures of Henry VIII, much smaller in the flesh: the gilt edged, glint-eyed murdering maniac captured in profile by German artist Holbein.

• And then we’re off from the Renaissance into cubism, fauvism, impressionism and all the other isms that confuse the battle-art weary. Yet, in succession, with explanation, they all make sense.

• They also help illustrate how no genius nor art movement works in isolation. And that takes me neatly to our side trip to Barcelona…

The Art in Spain series continues here with Gaudi, Barcelona

More on Art in Madrid

Time Out – Art in Madrid

Lonely Planet – Art in Madrid

Spotted by Locals – Art in Madrid

Art in Madrid: Guernica

Disclosure

I love Spain and have visited many times and even lived there for a while. On this occasion, I visited in partnership with iAmbassador and Madrid Tourism and stayed at the NH Palacio de Tepa (which, interestingly enough lives in a former 19th century palace in the literary quarter. )As ever, as always, I kept the right to write what I like. And, as is probably obvious, I am not a qualified art historian, just someone with a passion for washing away the dust of everyday life. Cheers!