About the Art in Madrid
Two of the art museums in Madrid, the Prado and the Reina Sophia, are built around the works of Spanish artists - nothing to sneeze at when you consider that these include Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, Zurbaran, Miro, Dali, and of course Picasso.
The Prado contains the world’s most extensive collection of Goyas, and
while we were there, an exhibit of Spanish portraiture from El Greco to Picasso
was on display as well. For me, the exhibit was dominated by a pair of blue
Picassos. In the permanent collection, I was captivated by what I would have
said was one of Claude Lorrain’s paintings. They called him Claudio Lorena!
The Reina Sophia is a collection of modern art. Its most prized possession is what many consider
to be Picasso’s masterpiece, La Guernica. That one is pretty impressive,
but the collection as a whole is not especially to my taste. My eyes glazed
over after just about an hour.
The Thyssen-Bournemisza is another matter altogether. This once-private, super-rich
collection includes works from a wide variety of schools and epochs, the common
denominator being simply the highest quality. It even has a surprisingly good
sampling of 19th century American art.
The special exhibit on display at the Thyssen-Bournemisza during our visit was a knock-out. A fine selection of Gauguins appeared
side-by-side with the works of the artists who had most influenced him
- Pisarro, Cezanne and Van Gogh, among others. It was a triply good exhibit:
a first-rate showing of Gauguin, a wonderful selection of each of the other
major artists, and a very intriguing illustration of the way Gauguin’s
work developed.
Craig said, “Imagine. You want to be an artist, and you are faced with
what those guys have done [pointing to a wall of Van Gogh and Cezanne]. What would you do? What’s left?
And this guy answers with that!”
For me, the Thyssen sneaks past the Prado much the way the Orangerie steals
the show from the Louvre.
