Madrid | A Weekend of Beauty in Three Museums

A long weekend in Madrid provided ample time to explore some of the city’s most beautiful collections of art, besides some fun gallery visits and unusual street art on the way.

The Prado

 

A visit to the Prado Museum with my husband Mauro and my son Ludo was a must. The Prado is on the level of The Met in NYC or the Louvre in Paris in the quality of its masterpiece collection. My intention was to witness in person the great Spanish masters, Goya and Velázquez especially, and I knew there was an important Caravaggio to be found as well…

The museum’s layout, beautifully organized, made wandering through its halls a pure joy, each room unfolding new wonders. Though photography is not allowed, I managed a few sneaky shots to capture fleeting beauty. The true showstopper of the day: Fra Angelico’s Immaculate Conception. Seeing the reproductions over the years did not prepare me for the overwhelming beauty of this piece. Every corner of the painting seemed to harbor its own world—the lush garden, the delicate angel wings, the shimmering gold leaf, the graceful architecture. As I stood, absorbed in its intricate details, a musician began to play a soft, classical melody on a piano placed nearby, adding a layer of magic to the experience. I was mesmerized in a way that hasn’t occurred in a long time by a work.

Another favorite for me was the Portait of the Artist’s Children in the Japanese Room.

Before leaving, the museum shop grabbed my attention, filled with clever and inspiring items that brought the works to life in unexpected forms. I was thrilled to add many new postcards from the Prado to my art postcard archive.

The Royal Collection

Adjacent to the Royal Palace of Madrid is an unusually designed museum, in which you descend three long levels built into a cliffside to view the collections. These are the works accrued by the centuries of Spanish kings and queens arranged in a chronological procession of their reigns. The fascinating aspect were the artistic surprises – besides great masterpieces: tapestries of magnificent narratives; architectural replicas made of gold; manuscripts about the “New World” and handwritten royal wills; a tribute to Spanish silk,… amongst so many other precious and eclectic objects.

Thyssen-Bornemisza

Leaving Mauro and Ludovico to wander Madrid on photographic (and eating) adventures, I headed to the Thyssen-Bornemisza on my own. Here I experienced gallery upon gallery of artwork accrued by the eponymous family. The experience was like a condensed degree in art history, moving through the stylistic periods, spotting the most iconic artists of each phase. There seemed no artist in history left out – all the greats are in this collection! It was eye-popping, and I also discovered new painters in each period whom I hadn’t yet experienced.

The amount of beauty stored in this building is overwhelming. While I rarely reach “saturation” in art viewing, after a full morning here, I was grateful for a siesta afterwards.