The Reina Sofia

Calder installation in the courtyard of the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid



Yesterday after a good long walk in the morning, I spent the rest of the day in the Reina Sofia museum, which blew me away. It's dedicated to 20th century art, especially but not exclusively Spanish art. The pieces themselves are a feast for the eyes, and they have been curated better than any museum I've ever visited. The RS functions almost like a documentary on modern art. I get the audio tours of any museum whenever they're available, and they're almost always really useful and insightful, but this one elevated the experience to a different level. The Reina Sofia is organized not just to display but to explain chronologically the rise of the various artistic movements of the past century, and Spanish artists were critically involved in most of them. The audio tour described how events like the First World War and the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Germany influenced the artistic movements, how they spread, and so forth. I learned a ton, and it made me so much more able to appreciate what I was seeing.

The museum has pieces from Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Miro, and dozens of other artists, and the gem of the collection is Picasso's Guernica, which depicts the air raid on the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The attack on Guernica was the first time that a civilian town became a bombing target in a war. It's a massive piece, covering an entire wall, done in black and white and depicting gruesome figures of war. The Spanish Republican government commissioned the piece, but when the fascists took over, the piece was evacuated to New York City. PIcasso stipulated that it not return to Spain until democracy was restored in that country, and the painting was finally repatriated in 1981. It's an eye-popping painting: the images pull you in and before you know it you've been staring at it for 20 minutes and are still transfixed. Seeing it on a page doesn't compare to having it loom over you, but I'll try to find a picture of it to post.

Incidentally, they sell Guernica t-shirts in the gift shop. I couldn't help but wonder who on earth would enjoy wearing that on their chest. Eeek.

Every couple of hours, I'd stop for a break in either the restaurant or the building's roof terrace, which is on top of the newly built annex. I loved the rooftop: it's all glass and metal beams at precise angles, and I snapped a bunch of pictures while I was up there. I probably should have stayed up there for the sunset (oh yeah, the RS closes at 9 pm. I love it when museums stay open late!), but I gave up and took a long, meandering walk back to my place instead.

In any case, I'm off to Barcelona and I need to go catch my bus! :)