Museo Nacional, Madrid

Friday 25th September (continued)

Oh my head! Last nights' escapades have left me with a headache and an earworm Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.

We left the flat around 10.30 and slowly walked to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (aka the Sofia). 6€ entry and 4€ for an audio guide could be the best value in Madrid. The collection on the 2nd floor had a series of galleries, some interconnected, that contained some of the most famous paintings of the 20th Century.

Picasso, Dali, Miro, Man Ray, Ernst - the list went on. The first gallery we entered focussed on the turn of the century Paris School with the earliest examples of cubism represented. Later schools of depiction included paintings that re-interpreted famous works of earlier eras. In his 1957 series Las Meninas, Picasso reinterpreted Velaquez's paintings of the Infante Margarita and her courtiers in the painting of the same name. Altogether Picasso produced 44 paintings based on Velaquez's canvas that we had earlier viewed in the Prado.

Not having eaten breakfast, we went down to the spacey spacious museo cafe for coffee and sandwiches. Outside an enormous black and white perspex sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein dominated the interior plaza. Kim and I left Wendy and John McG and went in search of the Robert Mapplethorp contribution Although unable to find this offering we viewed and experienced a wide variety of canvasses and installations including a large white diagram of economic and political follies that had appropriately once hung in the Nugan-Hand Bank in Sydney. A television showed a series of performances of the Patti Smith Group of different eras - Mapplethorp's contribution perhaps?

Back on the second floor many prominent we saw many works depicting artistic protests against the Nationalist's actions during the Civil War. Picasso's Guernica (1937) was the sole piece hung on a gallery wall. Opposite, a series of photographs by his wife showed the work in progress. Suprisingly, visitors were permitted to take photographs, as long as flash was not used. Had we another day, we would have returned to view those parts of the collection, including Klee, that we missed. Another trip perhaps.

That afternoon we caught the Metro to the end of the No. 3 line to Moncla and had a pleasant stroll through Parc Oest, one of Madrid's many fine parks, where we were serenaded by a lone bagpiper........?.

Friday night in Madrid is a big one for partying and strolling and we were swept along by the milling crowd after emerging from Sol Metro. Seeking dinner, we wandered in and out of the cross Calle around Plaza Santa Ana and eventually settled on a Peruvian restaurant - it is noticable that Madrid is the home to Spanish-speakers of many countries. This establishment surely wins the award for the fastest service ever, not that this proved a disadvantage for the unusual meals were great- particularly my prawn and rice soup and the fantastic lemon meringue pie we shared.

Sadly this was to be our last night in Spain for France beckoned.