I Love Madrid!

Each time I return to Madrid I fall in love with the city all over again.  I usually prefer small towns, but I truly could imagine myself living here.  It has the hustle and bustle of a big city without being overwhelming.  In spite of Spain's grave economic problems, it seems that the residents have perfected the art of savoring life.  I read an article in the newspaper this morning about a survey of people in the different countries of the European Union.  Even though Spain's unemployment rate is among the highest in the EU (second only to Greece), the Spanish people rank among the highest in satisfaction with life.

Today Phyllis and I had another great day in this great city.  We started with a wonderful breakfast in a little "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant...  coffee, tortilla española (very similar to an Italian "fritata" made of eggs, potatoes and onion) and churros (flutes of fried dough... Spain's answer to the doughnut).

We then continued on to Madrid's greatest art museum, and one of the greatest in all of Europe, El Prado.

The heart of El Prado is the artwork collected by the Spanish monarchs between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries.  Thus it is not a comprehensive museum covering the entire history of art in the world.  It reflects the tastes of the Spanish royal family as well as the cultural and political realities of the era.  Italian and Flemish artists such as Titian, Tintoretto and Rubens are well represented, but you will see very little art from Spain's Protestant enemies, England and the Netherlands.  Of course, where El Prado excels is in its collection of the Spanish masters.   You could spend days in the museum, but I gave Phyllis a relatively short tour concentrating on the "Big Three" of Spanish art, El Greco, Velázquez and Goya.  I have already discussed some of these artists' masterpieces in my entries on the history of Spain.  Here are a few more works of those painters (taken from the web since photography is prohibited in El Prado).

El Greco was born in Greece, but spent most of his life in Toledo, Spain, where he painted in a unique style that captures the religious fervor and mysticism of the Counter Refomation.

Christ Carrying the Cross

                 
Diego Velázquez was the court painter of King Felipe IV.  In addition to painting portraits of the royal family, he painted the dwarves and jesters who were employed to entertain the court.  But Velázquez painted them as human beings deserving of respect rather than as objects of ridicule.

  Prince Baltasar Carlos

The Buffoon Sebastián de la Morra

Francisco Goya was the court painter for King Carlos IV, but he also chronicled through his paintings and drawings the horrors of the brutal war between the forces of Napoleon and the Spanish people.  In his later years he may have gone insane, because his late works known as the "Black Paintings" are truly nightmarish images.

 The Second of May, 1808

 Two Old Men Eating

Behind El Prado is the sixteenth century church of San Jerónimo.  The door was open, so we entered and looked around.  It was in this church that King Juan Carlos was coronated in 1975.

A couple blocks beyond is the Buen Retiro Park, one of the city's loveliest green spaces.  We spent a couple of hours strolling through just a portion of this large park.

 

As we made our way back to Phyllis's hotel, we passed a number of Madrid's most extravagant architectural landmarks.  This over-the-top building was originally built as the city's post office.  Today it is the Madrid city hall.

 

What made my day even more enjoyable was that Phyllis was so obviously enjoying everything too.  She has only been here three days, and she is already talking about her next trip to Spain.  And I think it would be safe to say that she too has fallen in love with Madrid!