Museo Del Prado – Madrid

            As this weekend approached, we got more and more excited about the trip to Madrid from Segovia. Because the weather was gloomy when we arrived, we had to deviate from  our original plan of taking a walking tour of the city. We began at the Puerta de Sol and took a short stroll to the Plaza Mayor. It was fascinating to see all the diverse people walking through the streets, even more so than the tourists in Segovia.

One of the first sites we visited was the Presidencia de la Comunidad where two memorial plaques hung on the front of the building: one honoring the victims of the terrorist attack in Madrid in 2004 and the other commemorating the heroes who defended Spain against Napoleonic forces on May 2, 1808.

On a much happier note, the rest of the day was more upbeat. We had a fantastic lunch as a group, during which each of us tried various Spanish dishes. Then we made our way to the Museo del Prado, one of the world's finest art museums.We appreciated seeing works by various artists like Goya, Velázquez, and Bosch. The outside of the building depicted various artists and their function in the art world.

Inside we focused on the above mentioned 2 Spanish painters: Velázquez and Goya. We saw royal portraits, religious, political, and historical paintings. We spent time looking at “Las Meninas” (or "The Ladies in Waiting”), by Diego Velázquez, because of its groundbreaking use of multiple perspectives and its attention more on the ladies in waiting and Velázquez himself rather than on  the King and Queen who are reflected in a distant mirror. Another well-known painting of Velázquez is “The Crucified Christ.” This painting is especially unique because he does not typically paint religious paintings.  It also reflects a different rendition of the crucifixion. Here Christ's feet are side by side, therefore a fourth nail is included versus the standard three.

Goya also painted the crucifixion of Christ with his own spin to it, and called the piece, “Christ Crucified.” Goya’s interpretation also contained four nails, instead of the original three, but had Christ standing on the wooden ledge versus being hung by the nails. He also had no ropes holding his hands and feet, and his head was not hanging down but falling back, there making it appear as if he was asking God for mercy.

One of the last paintings we saw was “The Second of May 1808” by Goya, and it connected us to earlier in the day when we saw the plaque that honored the heroes of that day. We also saw “The Third of May1808", which sadly showed those heroes in front of a firing squad because of their actions the day before.

            It was an amazing experience to visit this museum and study a bit about these two Spanish painters whose work dealt with so many different subjects. We are looking forward to the rest of our adventure in Madrid!