One of the primary reasons we came to Spain was not for the rain on the plains (though it was kinda gloomy in Madrid when we first showed up) but for the art museums. So on the second full day in Madrid we got our butt over to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia as early as we could!

“As early as we could” was in fact early enough for breakfast, which we had at the trippy café (“70s fever dream,” I wrote in my journal) they have there. We were not so adept at flagging down waiters in the European style so it took us a while to get some traction and we were a bit grumpy due to low blood sugar because we hadn’t had breakfast (I was grumpy at least, maybe my super amazing wife wasn’t) but it was an alright breakfast in the end. I recall the Reina Sofia being almost oppressively large and confusing. Another grumpiness factor is that we had timed tickets to the “Picasso 1906” exhibition and were rapidly coming up on that time but had no idea where the room was. The Reina Sofia is a very large square but with other shapes poking out of it, and on multiple floors, and maybe our blood sugar wasn’t all the way up from breakfast, but we were at a little bit of a loss until we stumbled across the exhibit finally. I don’t think the timed ticket mattered anyway.

I did enjoy the exhibit on Picasso (I learned he sculpted in addition to his other work, I don’t think I knew that before), but I think the first thing I was really stunned by was the Dalí above. We of course have a long history with Dalí on this blog, so I thought I knew the man. But lo! Here was something new, a normal-looking painting. Reading about the painting on the internet I found out that the left side of the window is actually missing (for composition purposes), and so maybe that is the surrealist touch. Or maybe the surrealist touch is a surrealist painting a non-surrealist painting as a huge meta commentary on something something something. It’s of his sister, Anna Maria. Later on in the gift shop we bought another portrait (titled “Portrait“) of Anna Maria, so enamored were we with this part of the ouevre. (Do you think when Salvador told Anna Maria he was going to paint her, she was ever nervous? “I’m not going to have large spindly legs and be striding across a desolate landscape or something, am I, Sal?” “No, of course not,” says Salvador, with a wink, “I would never ever do that to you Ann.”)

But back to Picasso. The biggest celebrity in the Reina Sofia is of course Guernica. It is not the only thing in the hall in which is resides, but it is the only thing anyone was looking at. We went on a gloomy weekday but there was still a huge crowd (as you can see above), with tons of schoolkids being lectured about the piece. The only other reaction I wrote down about the painting is that it is “really impressively large,” a controversial statement I am nonetheless willing to stand by. Or sit by maybe, like the kids did.

Speaking of the controversial, another thing hammered home in this museum for me is that context matters. Since the art in the Reina Sofia is more modern than the art in the Prado, I didn’t really know what was going on. I mean I’ve read Homage to Catalonia and I am aware that WWII happened, but the intricacies of modern Spanish history that so much of the art was responding to were rather lost on me. There was some people in the art world that will tell you not to read the label next to the art but when there are explanatory notes man do I find those helpful. But lacking those contextual clues I had to enjoy the below posters ONLY for the pretty colors:

Thankfully though, as we were wandering out in a contextless white void, we eventually stumbled upon something we did have a whole lot of context for, that being an exhibit on the works of Ben Shahn, whose artworks focused on “the rights or workers and immigrants” and “the abuses of the powerful and the privileged” in the U.S. (and globally) during the Depression, New Deal, and into the Vietnam war. We Americans abroad had finally found America abroad and it all made sense. I knew what was going on in this exhibit. An admission though. I included both the pictures below because I thought both works were by Beh Shahn, but it turns out the work on the left (A Mule and a Plow) is by Bernarda Bryson Shahn, who did happen to the “life partner” of Ben but man she’s good. Though unfortunately for Bernarda, Ben had the single funniest work of art in the whole museum, by virtue of naming the painting on the right “Pretty Girl Milking the Cow.” Man I love art.

Anyways full of art it was time to get full of food. To do this we went off to the Mercado de San Miguel, Saint Michael being (I assume from context clues) the patron saint of tapas. We spent a while wandering the place buying ourselves all the little treats we deserved, starting with a calamari sandwich and croquettas before giving into our baser instincts and picking up towering plates of cheese and washing it all down with some very fancy sangria. A wonderful way to spend an afternoon and maybe like in the museum context clues would have helped but are carbs not the universal language?

The remainder of the day was spent wandering in and out of little shops to buy souvenirs and the sort of knick-knacks and olive oil bottles that really drive home to any visitors we have that my super amazing wife and I are seasoned world travelers. To top off the evening, on our final walk back to where we were staying we also of course stopped by to say hi to Cervantes. I left with a sudden urge to buy myself an old suit of armor.