Paintings & Palaces: An Introduction to Spain’s Capital
By Kaedyn Murphy
After a restful day yesterday we woke up bright and early to catch our 7am train to our last destination of the trip: Madrid! While most students chose to spend the three hours catching up on sleep (myself included), some were able to capture the beautiful Spanish terrain that we have been so lucky to explore at least a part of this last week and a half. Although we are sad this trip is coming to an end, we couldn’t be more excited for the jam packed few days ahead of us in Madrid to fully soak in, reflect, and synthesize our learning from this past month.
After we made it to our bus to store our luggage we headed straight for one of the most highly prized museums in Spain: El Prado. We met our local guide for the next few days, named Amor (which means love in Spanish!), had a brief coffee/snack break, then headed inside the magnificent art museum that fills over 100 rooms with paintings, sculptures, and furniture dating between the 12th and early 20th century. Although we very well could have spent the whole day gazing at the magnificent collection of European art, Amor efficiently walked us through the greatest paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, Raphael, Diego Velazquez, and Francisco Goya, to name a few. As we walked through the hallways, Amor described the portraits of various royals as “photos of the past,” explaining how the two-dimensional painting reveals far more than just the physical attributes of an individual. The paintings reflect complicated familial relationships and past political contexts through the subtlest of details- eye contact, facial expressions, clothing, body language. Each choice that was made impacts not only our understanding of the subjects’ lives, but also insight into the artists themselves.
As we made our way upstairs past the hundreds of royal portraits, we made our way to Las Maninas, the iconic 17th century painting by Diego Velazquez. The students had already heard of this painting from Professor Lefkovitz’s class during a conversation about themes of perspective and the relationship between a patron and a poet/artist. This specific artwork was revolutionary in its design as it challenged traditional relationships between the artist and their subject. Instead of painting a simple portrait of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana, Velazquez places them as mere reflections in the mirror that falls at the back of the room, which positions us, the viewer, in their place. This perspective challenges traditional portraits seen throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, blurring the lines between patrons, artists, and observers. The dynamic of the layered perspectives reflect the broader trends that students have studied in their deep poetical analysis of 10th-13th century Hebrew and Arabic poetry, highlighting artistic themes and expressions that are shared throughout genres, cultures, and centuries.
After the museum and a quick lunch break, we dropped our bags off at our hotel- located right on Gran Via- and met Amor for a brief walking tour to see the Royal Palace, the Opera House, and Plaza Mayor.
The Royal Palace is a magnificent building with over 3,000 rooms- making it the largest Royal Palace in Europe. It used to operate as a small village with over 5,000 employees of the Royal Family, including everything they could need from a pharmacy to a school to an armory. Now, it is mainly used as an office and for ceremonial purposes. Plaza Mayor also once used to be a much more lively center, previously acting as the main market and trading center in Madrid. Felipe II orchestrated the development of this plaza after moving the capital of Spain from Toledo to Madrid in the 16th century. Currently, it is mainly occupied by restaurants and tourist shops, occasionally serving as a location for concerts and performances.
To end our first day in Spain, a few students went to visit the Reina Sofia Museum to see Picasso’s 1937 painting of Guernica. This 11.5 ft by 25.5 ft black and white painting is regarded as one of the most powerful anti-war paintings in history. It was painted after the bombing of Guernica, a town in northern Spain, during the Spanish Civil War. Nazi Germany, led by Hitler, had orchestrated the bombing in an act of support to Franco, the leader of the Nationalist movement in Spain. The painting was also likely influenced by Dara Maar, a political activist and photographer who was in a relationship with Picasso at the time. The scene depicted is said to be a testimony to the horrors the Spanish Civil War was inflicting, particularly to innocent civilians. It has grown to be a powerful political symbol against violence, destruction, and war.
