Spain was my first trip abroad alone. I mean, really alone.
No spouse, no friend, no tour group, no contacts. Nothing.
And I don't speak Spanish. Nada.
Spain was about being alone, knowing that I was able to do it, and then actually doing it (always a key step). Why did I settle on Spain for my first leap into solo travel? I had been to Toledo and Barcelona once with family. It was with them that I discovered that Spain was delicious, that there were layers of history in this beautiful country, and that the people were warm and friendly.
So I ventured forth...planning my grand solo Madrid - Cordoba - Granada tour.
I was surprised that Madrid turned out to be all about art. Or rather, Art.
The Prado, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida, and the Sorolla House and Museum. The Prado, of course, is huge and houses a wealth of Spanish and international art. One of the most famous paintings in the world, Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez is there. The Centro de Arte Reina Sofia has Picasso's Guernica.
But the ones that moved me the most, the ones that made me gasp, were the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida, and the Joaquin Sorolla House and Museum.
Most countries have Great Art and Great Artists. But Spain is blessed many times over in this particular area...and Goya is arguably the greatest artist of the 18th century.
"Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels." - Francisco de Goya
He lived from 1746 to 1828 and was (finally) entombed in the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida. While he is probably most known for The Third of May 1808, which depicts the shooting of Spaniards who rose up against Napoleon Bonaparte's rule, the Chapel is another beast altogether. Goya was fifty-two years old and the most famous artist in Spain when he painted it.
In Spanish Recognitions, Mary Lee Settle wrote, "To paint or to write without the obscuring gloss of fear or favor is the stuff of genius. Goya, the rough peasant, the darling of the court, had it."
He painted the people of Madrid, and I sat and looked at them for a long time. This place gets shortchanged in guide books, but I found it to be the quietest, most thoughtful presentation of beautiful art. Sadly, of course, I do not have pictures of the inside (not allowed), and the little souvenir book I bought does not do it justice. But if you go to Madrid, go here. Worship at Art's feet.
When the services are over, it is essential to get a little modern. The Impressionist painter Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida had a studio-mansion (ah, how nice would that be?) in Madrid, and it is literally packed to the gills with his scenes from Spain. Scenes lit with the glow of the Spanish sunlight.
"I hate darkness. Claude Monet once said that painting in general did not have light enough in it. I agree with him. We painters, however, can never reproduce sunlight as it really is. I can only approach the truth of it." - Sorolla
I can only approach the truth of it. Those words stuck with me on this trip. I was new to photography, this trip was my first adventure with my camera. I was trying to be an artist. Trying in my own way to do what all artists try to do. Approach the truth.
No spouse, no friend, no tour group, no contacts. Nothing.
And I don't speak Spanish. Nada.
Spain was about being alone, knowing that I was able to do it, and then actually doing it (always a key step). Why did I settle on Spain for my first leap into solo travel? I had been to Toledo and Barcelona once with family. It was with them that I discovered that Spain was delicious, that there were layers of history in this beautiful country, and that the people were warm and friendly.
So I ventured forth...planning my grand solo Madrid - Cordoba - Granada tour.
I was surprised that Madrid turned out to be all about art. Or rather, Art.
The Prado, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida, and the Sorolla House and Museum. The Prado, of course, is huge and houses a wealth of Spanish and international art. One of the most famous paintings in the world, Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez is there. The Centro de Arte Reina Sofia has Picasso's Guernica.
But the ones that moved me the most, the ones that made me gasp, were the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida, and the Joaquin Sorolla House and Museum.
Most countries have Great Art and Great Artists. But Spain is blessed many times over in this particular area...and Goya is arguably the greatest artist of the 18th century.
"Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels." - Francisco de Goya
He lived from 1746 to 1828 and was (finally) entombed in the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida. While he is probably most known for The Third of May 1808, which depicts the shooting of Spaniards who rose up against Napoleon Bonaparte's rule, the Chapel is another beast altogether. Goya was fifty-two years old and the most famous artist in Spain when he painted it.
In Spanish Recognitions, Mary Lee Settle wrote, "To paint or to write without the obscuring gloss of fear or favor is the stuff of genius. Goya, the rough peasant, the darling of the court, had it."
He painted the people of Madrid, and I sat and looked at them for a long time. This place gets shortchanged in guide books, but I found it to be the quietest, most thoughtful presentation of beautiful art. Sadly, of course, I do not have pictures of the inside (not allowed), and the little souvenir book I bought does not do it justice. But if you go to Madrid, go here. Worship at Art's feet.
When the services are over, it is essential to get a little modern. The Impressionist painter Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida had a studio-mansion (ah, how nice would that be?) in Madrid, and it is literally packed to the gills with his scenes from Spain. Scenes lit with the glow of the Spanish sunlight.
"I hate darkness. Claude Monet once said that painting in general did not have light enough in it. I agree with him. We painters, however, can never reproduce sunlight as it really is. I can only approach the truth of it." - Sorolla
I can only approach the truth of it. Those words stuck with me on this trip. I was new to photography, this trip was my first adventure with my camera. I was trying to be an artist. Trying in my own way to do what all artists try to do. Approach the truth.
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