More of Madrid

This has been a crazy week so I haven't been able to post more pictures of Madrid. So, here are some of around the city. The eagle was taken in the Prado Museum.

Prado Decorative Arts

In the basement near the cafe of the Prado, there is a room with decorative arts. John and C teased me about wanting to see this stuff as a break from the art. Howeve, we were all impressed with the room and really liked the exhibit.

Prado tables

At the Prado, there were many beautiful inlaid tables throughout the museum. John's sister C teased me that I was more interested in the tables and spent more time looking at them than the art on the walls even though the art was far more famous, possibly more "important."

In general, I appreciate three dimensional art more than two dimensional, other than photographs. I am not really sure why except that there is more to look at. When we look at sculptures that are hundreds or even thousands of years old, I am in awe of the techniques used and wonder how the artists got such detail. I wonder the same thing about paintings but the three dimensional stuff just resonates more with me. I also take a lot of pictures of wood work and stained glass because my father is interested in them and appreciates the pictures that I send him.

Prado Part one

While in Madrid we visited the Prado art museum. It houses many famous works by Goya and others. The museum itself is beautiful. In many of the rooms, there are marble "baseboards" and marble frames around the doors. In the newer parts of the museum, the marble was lighter. One of the works we saw was Velasquez’ 'Las Meninas'. This was particularly interesting to see because while we were in Barcelona in January we viewed several works by Pablo Picasso's reinterpretation and study of this painting. We got the feeling that if we could just travel all of Europe eventually everything would tie together.

Study of light

Madrid was warm and sunny. It stayed light late and the sun slowly set. This created some interesting light and pictures that I really like. So, here they are.

Warm and Sunny Madrid

Spain was warm and sunny this time that we went. We arrived Saturday evening and left Monday afternoon. It was a beautiful weekend and we really enjoyed our visit, especially seeing John's sister C. Of course I took loads of pictures which I will start posting soon.

While in Madrid, we went to the Prado Museum which has works by Goya, Greco, Ruben, and lots of other famous artists that I had never heard of. There were also a lot of gorgeous inlaid tables throughout the museum that I took lots of pictures of. John and C teased me that I admired the tables more than the artwork. We also looked at some sculpture and "decorative arts."

A lot of the stores and museums were closed because May 1st and 2nd are bank holidays in Spain. That made me feel less guilty about sleeping in and relaxing before heading out for the day.