Arte Español

We spent a week in Madrid upon first arriving in Spain – supposedly a week of orientation for Fulbright awardees. However, Brad was only occupied with orientation activities during 2 days, so I only had 2 days to experience Madrid Neely-style. By Neely-style, I mean lots of time looking at surrealist art and very long lunches. And brazenly using Spanish with natives, but probably embarrassing myself in the process.

During my 2 days on my own, I obsessively used the metro and I was mistaken for a native Spaniard like 3 times. I also visited the Reina Sofía Museum and the Prado – the museums were the highlight of my time in Madrid.

At the Reina Sofía, I stared at Miro, Picasso and Kandinsky works for hours. Dalí, eh, I can take him or leave him. But Miro and Picasso? LOVE THEM. You can spend hours wondering what their paintings/drawings/scupltures mean. The most famous work at the Reina Sofia is Picasso’s "Guernica." After experiencing that, you’re emotionally exhausted. Miro's pieces are a bit more whimsical and fun.

Dragonfly with red wings Miro

The Prado has a ton of Goya, Velasquez and El Greco. It also has some famous Italian, Flemish and Dutch painters. The most notable painting at the Prado is probably "Las Meninas" by Velasquez. Out of all the paintings I saw there, one of my favorites is by Goya (see below). I think the monster symbolizes a civil war in Spain. Every human and animal is fleeing in terror from him, but there’s this one donkey that’s just standing there (white and in the foreground.) I can’t remember what the donkey symbollizes . . .

The Colossus Goya

My time at the museums was completely delightful. And, I gave myself plenty of time to simply wander around Madrid.

Meanwhile, Brad was getting to know the other Fulbrights awardees to Spain. We went out with a few of the other Fulbrights while in Madrid. Most of them were going to be teaching K-12 in Madrid. The majority of the “teaching assistants,” as they were called, were new college grads. So the age gap and maturity gap between me and them was pretty huge. Not really. But, I bet I’ll appreciate this year in Spain about 4 times more than they will because I’ve been working full-time for 4 more years than they have. Additionally, I’m not accountable to anyone but myself for the work I do this year – YIPPEE!