The Prado
Sundays are free in the Prado, which made it extra nice. We walked in and had to go though a metal detector. They made us throw away our bottle of water, but then let us in.
We had spent many hours in here before, so we didn’t feel so bad just seeking out some specific pieces we wanted to see again. The first of these was The Garden of Earthly Delights by El Bosco or as we call him Hieronymus Bosch. I am sure that you are familiar with this, and it is worth seeing in person. It is very large, and all the little devilments are quite vivid.
After that, we wandered up to the Velázquez room, mainly to see Las Meninas, another piece of art that is so well known it has almost become a caricature. There were some other Velázquez portraits in the room. All just wonderful.
Then we headed up to the Goya floor to see the Black Paintings, starting with the Perro Semihundido, one of my all time favorite pieces of art. It is a small dog’s head peering up with anticipation at you. If you have ever had a dog, you understand this look.
Then we saw some of the other, darker paintings such as Saturn eating his Young, The Colossus, 2 May, 1808, 3 May, 1808, and various others.
We decided to wander over to the Retiro, a large garden that used to be (what else?) the royal gardens. We had a very nice walk there, along with a little snack and some beer. Then we wandered back to our part of town via the Metro. We made reservations for dinner at 9:00 PM at the Café de Oriente, and came home.
We had spent many hours in here before, so we didn’t feel so bad just seeking out some specific pieces we wanted to see again. The first of these was The Garden of Earthly Delights by El Bosco or as we call him Hieronymus Bosch. I am sure that you are familiar with this, and it is worth seeing in person. It is very large, and all the little devilments are quite vivid.
After that, we wandered up to the Velázquez room, mainly to see Las Meninas, another piece of art that is so well known it has almost become a caricature. There were some other Velázquez portraits in the room. All just wonderful.
Then we headed up to the Goya floor to see the Black Paintings, starting with the Perro Semihundido, one of my all time favorite pieces of art. It is a small dog’s head peering up with anticipation at you. If you have ever had a dog, you understand this look.
Then we saw some of the other, darker paintings such as Saturn eating his Young, The Colossus, 2 May, 1808, 3 May, 1808, and various others.
We decided to wander over to the Retiro, a large garden that used to be (what else?) the royal gardens. We had a very nice walk there, along with a little snack and some beer. Then we wandered back to our part of town via the Metro. We made reservations for dinner at 9:00 PM at the Café de Oriente, and came home.
posted by Dan Piette at 7:27 PM
1 Comments:
Bosch: Say it with flowers!
One of my favorite Goya paintings is Battle to the Death; the two giants fighting forever.
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