Museo del Prado

I have visited Museo del Prado which is renowned for having one of the best collections in the world. It s basis is the Spanish royal collection which has now been built on, containing world famous works by Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Titian, Rubens and many more. I think the favourite work I saw was “The garden of earthly delights” by Hieronymous Bosch. Its a large triptych depicting the creation of the earth, for a 16^th century painting the style is surprisingly modern and surreal. It was defiantly one of the most striking pieces in the gallery looking out of place alongside anything else in the gallery. The composition is very orthodox with its slight confusion of perspective, but its the phallic lobster’esque spires and metallic orbs that throw the whole painting.

Whilst in Museo del Prado there were several artists painting directly from the pieces in the gallery. I was walking around and in front of Velazquez’s , Christ on the cross 1632 (268x170cm) there was a crowd of people that I thought were gathering round admiring the work, when I got closer I realised they were actually just crowding round a man who was copying the painting. The irony of this scene really struck me, twenty or so people who had paid ten Euros each paying more attention to amateur copyist than the world acclaimed master piece. I think perhaps this was the most thought provoking part of the day for me!

El Noche en Blanco

On September the 11^th there is an annual fiesta called El Noche en Blanco, which is uniquely celebrated in Madrid. The streets were packed throughout the entire city, with music and performances in all the plaza’s, exhibitions and antiquities in abundance with large swings and hammocks installed all down the Gran via. Each plaza had a different theme or activity, some where thousands of people were dancing the tango, one where a thousand beach balls had appeared from somewhere and were being thrown everywhere, others with fire jugglers and acrobats. Even the university had organised a huge party with dj’s all night, they even provide breakfast before you get the metro home! The attendance was huge, the only event comparable in London is perhaps new years eve, but they try to get people to leave as soon as possible rather than enticing them to stay out all night with the promise of a free breakfast! The fiesta attracts people of all ages, as well as music and performance, a major feature of the fiesta is that all the museums in the city are open all night and are free to enter. It was strange to see a mile long queue for what you would presume would be a club, only to walk along and see that they are queuing for El Thyssen to view the collections of 17^th century painting!

The city

I have spent a lot of time exploring the city and getting to know the area. I’m living right in the centre of the city just off the Gran via, which is the equivalent of the high street. This means that everything is happening right on my doorstep. The city is at its most vibrant at night, with street performers displaying a range of talents from string quartets, flamenco dancing, mariachi bands (with sombrero’s and Spanish guitar!), to people walking on broken glass, people with elaborate costumes made to look like statues standing still for hours on end. The list is endless but so are the performances which happen all over the city everyday, it creates a really vibrant atmosphere. Even when you’re sitting down for a drink in the plaza you’ll find yourself getting serenaded by violinists, guitarists and accordion players throughout the night. There is also an abundance of artists selling work on the streets and creating it in front of a crowd as they do so. It all accumulates to create a really creative and exciting city.

Universidad Complutense Madrid

I have been in Madrid for just over two weeks. I have been to the university to attend a two week language course. We had 4 hours of lessons per day, they threw us in at the deep end as they were conducted entirely in Spanish. We focused on grammar, learning the multiple tenses of verbs and their uses. I learnt a lot of vocabulary and feel much more confident with comprehension. My course starts on the 4^th of October, and I still have to choose my modules, it works a lot differently to Camberwell with more class based lessons. I have short listed the courses I am interested in such as; project sculpture, building sculpture, sculptural form, principles and processes of sculpture, artistic production with painting, process painting, techniques and procedures of sculpture, natural modelling and mural painting. I just need to get some more detailed information about the courses before I sign up and choose.