1. Picasso's Guernica (1937) . The crown jewel of the Reina Sofia & probably the main motivator for many (myself included!) to pay the museum's 6 euro admission fee. I wrote my final paper for my Iberian Literature, Art & Society class on this piece AND THEN it showed up on my Renaissance-Modern Art final as an essay question! Picasso painted Guernica after the bombing of the Basque town which the painting is named after by Franco's German allies. There are a lot of different interpretations as to what each specific figure & figment of the work represents, but the use of color & expression is used to express the horrors & destruction of war, especially those which innocent civilians too often experience. I knew the canvas was quite large, but its size when I saw it in-person as well as the details which were much more visible when viewing the actual canvas instead of a mere picture of it made the work even more moving. Except the painting also has two guides on either side of it at all times + a black line clearly marked on the floor with tape which no one is allowed to cross (which didn't stop folks from trying to get a closer look & caused a very loud alarm to set off each time).
Blogger keeps downsizes the slide into a painfully small size, but you can find a decent slide which lets you zoom in here
2. Joan Miró's Ciurana, the Path (1917). The colors made for quite a trippy- and dare I say it, surreal (get it?!) experience. While it looks like it's done in the free form-like manner associated with surrealism's focus on psychological spontaneity expressed in artwork, something about the use of color and line also made it somewhat ordered as well. In the sense that I could make out the path, the trees, etc.
3. Picasso's Woman in Blue (1901). It reminded me a lot of Velázquez's court paintings, including those I saw in the National Gallery of Art in D.C. over the summer. Which isn't surprising since some art critics think this painting is meant to be in dialogue which Velázquez's work. Her dress looks ornate on a slide like the one below, but actually is a loose mix of color & brushstrokes up close. I had seen another slide of it in a book I have about Picasso's earlier work, but in-person there are many nuances of her (hardly warm) facial expression & personality.
4. Dalí Figure at a Window (1925). It's a portrait of his sister with a view of Cadaqués, a small village in Catalunya which includes Dalí's house now open to the public as a museum. I'll make it out there for a visit in my dreams. I had vaguely come across the painting when I was looking through catalogues of his work in Smith's art library for my final paper for my Culturas de España class (see a pattern of independently incorporating art history in my Spanish classes? :) , but didn't appreciate how finely detailed it is until I came across it in the Reina Sofia's gallery of his works.
5. Daniel Vázquez Díaz's Alegría del Campo Vasco (Joy of the Basque Countryside) , 1920. Considering my Spanish seminar was about nationalism centered around minoritized languages & cultures - including in the Basque Country, Catalunya & Galicia in Spain- I was reminded of images of the Basque Country as rural and backward. I had never heard of this Spanish artist before, so it was interesting to get to know some of his work. The use of color to create the scenery as well as his figures reminded me a bit of Gauguin's depiction of Tahiti as paradise of sorts untained by modern life- which is obviously problematic, yet I couldn't help but find the piece pleasing in the same way as I would a Gauguin.
6. Ángeles Santos Torroella's El Mundo(World) . 1929. Another artist I had never heard of before (& a woman artist at that!) until I came across this very large, very imposing canvas. At the risk of sounding corny, the canvas strongly radiated the humanity, vibrance & potential that comes from the interconnectedness of our global society, both for better & worse.
7. Ángeles Santos Torroella's Tertulia (Gathering) . 1929. A really interesting painting about women & gender during this time period of Spain right before Primo & then, Franco. I felt it included the theme of how women being left out of the public sector not only denies them meaningful personal & intellectual lives but denies an ability to connect & build bonds between each other. Kind of showing how "the personal is political" 30+ years early, if you will. She's certainly an artist I want to explore further in my History of Spanish Art class- hopefully my professor will encourage my interests! Unfortunately that wasn't the case with my last art history class- I think I was spoiled by my Spanish advisor's classes where we had more academic freedom.
Lastly, the gallery opposite the one reserved for Guernica (yes, of course it has a gallery all to itself!) had copies of Picasso's Dream & Lie of Franco prints. I won't post slides of them because some of the imagery is quite graphic considering their satirical purpose, but it's super easy to google them if you want. Although of course I had seen them before: the Smith College Museum of Art has the Cunningham Center, where anyone can make an appointment to see up to 15 drawings or prints in the SCMA collection. Right up close & personal. So while I was able to see these prints in Madrid, I reminded how way too many Smithies don't realize how works of art by artists known around the world (including those in prominent museums such as the Reina Sofia) can also been seen right down the street.
Just thought I should end on that note considering I left the campus for the semester to go to Spain & all :)
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