The Golden Art Triangle is a term used to describe the three great Madrid museums. The sheer size of the big three world-class museums and the wealth of art they exhibit means it is wise to pick out works, genres and temporary exhibitions in advance to conserve energy and enhance enjoyment.
Museo del Prado : A visit to the Prado, one of the world’s oldest and best art galleries, used to be an austere affair. But not any more: Rafael Moneo’s 2007 extension welcomes visitors into an airy reception space, with smartly dressed and efficient staff.
The upbeat tone is maintained throughout. Visitors get plenty of navigation help (the Prado has more than 10,000 works in its collection) and its floor plan uses thumbnail images and room numbers to identify masterpieces such as Titian’s “Danae and the Shower of Gold”, Rubens’ “The Three Graces” and Raphael’s “The Cardinal”.
More detailed guides are available in the galleries – for €1, self-service machines will provide a colour booklet full of intelligent commentary on key works and artists.
The Prado’s audio guide has a red “additional information” button – which is how I learnt about Goya’s arresting portrait “The Duchess of Chinchón” being painted over two earlier inverted (male) portraits and how this layering and thinning of the paint had helped with the painting’s conservation.
Goya’s moving political masterpieces “The Second of May, 1808” and “The Third of May, 1808” were cleaned last year, and are now as fresh and new as when they were first painted. They hang in one of three rooms dedicated to the artist.
Even in its own literature, the Prado does not claim to be complete or balanced but it is an extraordinary national museum which, since its expansion, can host fine temporary exhibitions. It is now a place to revel in sheer beauty and excellence.
The excellent Prado guide is available in several languages from the website as well as in the bookshop. It is heavy to carry around, so it’s best savoured before or after the visit.http://www.museodelprado.es/
Centro de Arte Reina : SofíaNext stop is the the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The Spanish National Museum of Modern Art expanded into space designed by Jean Nouvel in 2005.
The museum’s jewel is Picasso’s response to the civil war, “Guernica” (1937), the power of which is heightened by the adjacent presentations of Robert Capa photographs and George Grosz lithographs depicting the confusion and despair felt during a complicated time in Spain’s history.
Good use of film is made throughout Reina Sofía, including the delightful 1895 Louis Lumière film Sortie d’Usine. Outstanding works by Juan Gris, Joaquín Sunyer and Joan Miró reveal the museum’s strength in Spanish artists.
Highlights from outside Spain include two intriguing rooms dedicated to the work of German artist Oskar Schlemmer from the 1920s.
As in the Prado, the new space aims to expand the museum’s collection, to present temporary exhibitions and to develop its education programme.
However, some exhibits feel stretched out and do not work as well as they might. A closed café and a dingy bookshop were other small blots.http://www.museoreinasofia.es/
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza : Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza’s collection is housed in the remodelled 19th-century Palacio de Villahermosa (the renovation also the work of Rafael Moneo).
Opened in 1992 and expanded in 2004, the gallery feels rather flashier than the other two – this impression was emphasised by the current exhibition Tears of Eros, a clumsy peep show that lumps together Gustav Courbet and Marc Quinn’s gold sculpture of Kate Moss.
The salmon pink walls of the permanent collection do not make a sympathetic background for some important works. The subtle “Houses of the River (the Old Town)” by Egon Schiele is drowned out, Edgar Degas’ “Race Horses in a Landscape” struggles too.
The collection of 19th-century American art is rightly admired, as are the medieval works from Italy and Germany, but overall it feels like a museum that needs a rethink.http://www.museothyssen.org/
Casa SorollaRound off an art tour of Madrid with an uplifting visit to Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla’s squeaky-floored home and studio.
Sorolla (1863-1923), subject of a retrospective at the Prado earlier this year, is best known for the way he makes light the main subject of his paintings of beach scenes and gardens.
His home, with its Moorish garden, is light-filled, too. The rooms contain domestic furniture and cabinets crammed with curios. The notes on discreet boards around the museum are minimal but helpful, and volunteers are on hand to give guided tours if booked in advance.http://museosorolla.mcu.es/
Real Jardín Botánico : The Royal Botanical Gardens, designed by Juan de Villaneuva, the architect of the original neoclassical Prado building, are not to be missed, and are next to the museum.
Although the statuary here, and in the nearby gardens of Parque del Buen Retiro, is grand, the gardens themselves are modest. Groups of children sit on the floor listening to guides’ stories of barks and buds.http://www.rjb.csic.es/
Bron/Source : FT
