We arrived in Madrid on Thursday, the first sunny day after 3 weeks of rain in the region. Our taxi driver was a Madrid native with an effusive, expressive nature. Somehow with his hands engaging the steering wheel only about half the time he was able to navigate the busy freeway and into the narrow streets of the old city where we were staying without incident. He shared a steady commentary about his beloved city and took us on a quick tour of the major landmarks, including the Prado and Reina museums. First impression: Madrid is a lovely, bustling city monumentally proportioned populated by warm, engaging people. 

On Friday, we visited the Reina Sofia, Madrid’s modern museum. It had a large exhibition by the painter and photographer Juan Uslé (1954). One of my interests as a photographer stems from a desire to convey my visceral a sense of space. I was struck by the dimensionality of this artist’s work. The large painting below was particularly effective in using color and abstract design elements to evoke spatiality.

Juan Uslé, Fragmentos Iberiocos, 1992-1993, Reina Sofia, 2.13.26

The Reina’s big draw is Picasso’s Guernica, 1937, which has a large gallery dedicated to it. 

Picasso, Guernica, Reina Sofia, 2.13.26

Other works by Picasso are shown in adjacent galleries. This artist is rendering a painting that is evocative of the Guernica.

Picasso & Artist, Reina Sofia, 2.13.26

Saturday morning was sunny, cold and windy. We were in line outside for an hour to get into the Prada. Everyone was friendly and chatty in spite of the cold. The building is very large befitting a world-class museum. Inside, there are a large number of galleries hosting many enormous canvases of many famous artists. The scale of everything seemed much bigger than other big museums. Even in this offseason, the expansive interior was tightly packed with museum-goers. Fortunately, no photography is allowed in the galleries, so we were spared the incessant selfies we encounter elsewhere. I was primarily interested in Velazquez because of his use of perspective and there was a large gallery dedicated to his work. He was primarily a court painter and his paintings represent people at or almost life-size. I felt like I was in the room with those depicted.

Photography is allowed in one, less visited  room. The two paintings generally represent the large size of many of the museum’s paintings. 

Prado, 2.14.26. 

Saturday afternoon turned warm and the Gran Via, the boulevard where Madrilenians typically take their evening stroll, was packed. After being cooped up for 3 weeks, families, groups of friends, and couples converged to the central area’s sidewalks and plazas. There was a continuous flow of people pouring out of the metro stops. Filling the streets was a large demonstration against the Iranian government that was aligned with protests around the world. Outside of Tokyo, this was the most highly concentrated press of people I’ve encountered on streets. One observation: there isn’t any consistently clear right of way among pedestrians here that I could discern. I found, however, that walking at a much slower pace than usual—strolling—provided all the time needed to flow with the crowd in a dance-like choreography. Moving in this connected way was a pleasure I don’t recall having encountered before. I understand why people of Madrid might want to do this every night

On Sunday, we are off to Cordoba. As the trains connecting Madrid and Cordoba were still not running due to repairs in the aftermath of the horrific high-speed crash a few weeks ago, we traded our train tickets for a 5-hour bus ride. More to follow on the next leg of our travels in Andalusia