I haven't blogged here for a few weeks, but I have been trying to work on my other blog. If you haven't seen it, it is a chronicle of all the concerts I have ever seen, starting with the Thompson Twins in 1984.
I have been plugging away at that blog since 2004 and I am just barely halfway through the list of shows, so I figured I ought to step it up a bit or I have no chance of ever getting them all posted. Or by the time I do blogs will no longer be cool.
I guess things happen in threes. Or at least I need three examples before I am driven to blog.
Is it just London or are all of a sudden musicians selling out like crazy? The other night I was shocked to hear Stephin Merritt's voice and trademark ukulele music hawking a new Volvo station wagon. Then tonight I saw a Mars bar commercial with New Order's Blue Monday in the background.
But the absolute worst I thought was the new Birds Eye commercial with Suggs from Madness. Not so much because they are using Our House, which is one of the most commericalized songs on earth - but because he is actually in the commercial.
I guess I am in marketing so I shouldn't bitch. Am I a snob or should I expect my music heroes to remain untainted?
I spent this weekend in Madrid. I had wanted to go to see the Prado for years, especially after going to Spain last year and not seeing a single Goya or Velazquez painting. Both painters are supposed to be masters but even with all the museums I frequent I had never seen one live.
Since I was going for a singular purpose, I stayed right in the heart of the golden triangle, almost right across the street from the Prado. I was happy to find out that all three of the major museums, the Prado, the Thyssen, and the Reina Sofia all stayed open reasonably late so I took my time visiting all three.
I probably spent the longest time at the Prado, I am not sure exactly but I think I was in there for at least three hours. I got the audio guide and spent a lot of time going through the different works, which span three solid floors (plus some stuff in the basement that I didn't get too) and it was quite an education in Spanish art, from El Greco to Velazquez, from Goya to Dali and Picasso. Now I get why these guys were so respected. Velazquez had amazing talent for capturing the essence of the people in his religious and historical paintings as well as his portraits. Even though I thought I hadn't seen any before a lot of them look familiar, which I suppose makes sense since a lot of other artists paid tribute to him.
Last summer when we traveled in Spain I spent a good chunk of time reading Hemmingway's Death in the Afternoon, a bit of ordered rambling on bullfighting and other things. I remember reading him going on about Goya, luckily for the web I found the passage I remembered: '[Goya believed] in what he had seen, felt, touched, handled, smelled, enjoyed, drunk, mounted, suffered, spewed-up, lain-with, suspected, observed, hated, lusted, feared, detested, admired, loathed and destroyed. Naturally, no painter has been able to paint all that but he tried.' After reading that I was dying to see a Goya painting, but could find none in Bilbao. I think it must be because they are all in the Prado, well a lot anyway. And yes, they are brilliant. And more, they are so different. Regular royal portraits, royal portraits with a backstory, a famous nude, some really grim black paintings when he was exiled, I could go on and on but I think you just have to see them. I think I would like to read a book about him now so I can get the full picture.
I guess Madrid has always been a seat of kingdoms and those royals collected a lot of art, not just Spanish but plenty of Dutch and Italian stuff too. I don't think I have ever seen this many Titian paintings and I was also surprised to see Hieronoymus Bosch there as well. The Garden of Earthly Delights is in the Prado, and I have to say it is one of the strangest paintings I have ever seen. I can't believe it was painted in 1504.
After the Prado I went over to the Thyssen, a very nice museum with a collection of a very rich family. It had a lot of really nice works, sort of a nice complement to the Prado, but it was a bit more accessible, i.e. I didn't spend three hours there. It had some great early Dali paintings. He started out so normal.
After two museums and almost five solid hours viewing art I had to take a break, so I got on one of those open air bus tours and saw the rest of madrid from the top. It looks like a very beautiful city. I was impressed with the architecture, especially the restored art deco buildings on the Gran Via and how green everything was. Unfortunately I just kind of whizzed past it all, there are a lot of places I would have liked to check out in more detail. But I still had another museum left to see, so I got off the bus and walked quickly to the Reina Sofia museum.
Lucky for me (and for the locals) the museum doesn't charge after 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays. I got there around 7:45, just an hour and 15 minutes before closing time, so I sort of breezed through it. I probably missed a lot, there are some really interesting sculptures and a couple of special exhibits I skipped. But I did get to see Guernica, which made the entire trip worth it. It is housed in its own special room there on a very large white wall and I think probably 90 percent of the visitors in the museum at that point were in the room. I have owned a small print of it for years and it is hard to believe it is from the same piece. I guess it hasn't even been in Spain that long, it was held in the MOMA in New York for years so I was lucky to get to see it where Picasso wanted it.
Anyway, it was a great weekend and I learned a lot about Spanish art. All the photos, mostly from my bus tour, are posted here.
