Guernica

When I was studying Spanish in high school, 3 of the 4 years I had the same teacher. Along with being interested in Spanish, she was also interested in Spanish art, so every year we would spend some time on learning about the famous Spanish painters and their famous works. But I never thought I would actually get to see any of them in person.

So when we moved to Madrid, one of the main things that I wanted to see was the painting Guernica which resides in the Reina Sofia modern art museum here in Madrid. It is one of the most famous paintings by Pablo Picasso. Shortly before we went to Texas in July, Jason read in the (English-translated) Spanish paper that it was being removed from the museum to be restored and wouldn't be displayed again until 2010!!! i.e. AFTER we will no longer be living in Madrid!!! So needless to say, I was very disappointed that I hadn't yet taken the time to go down to see it in the 6 months we'd already spent in Madrid.

Well, thankfully, the English translation turned out to be not so accurate :-). They are renovating the galleries where Guernica is held, but the painting itself is actually too fragile to be messed with at all. (and who knows what that 2010 stuff was all about!)

Guernica was Picasso's reaction to the terrible bombing of the northern Spanish town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War (apparently he started painting it just days after the bombing). IBC has a copy of this painting in its Town Square to represent the fall of man. It truly is a horrifying scene. And even more when you see it in person. It is huge (11 ft tall and over 25 ft long) and really impossible to take in all at once. But it is very sobering. The picture of the mother wailing over her dead child was almost too much.

To read more about the painting click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)

I was just talking with a friend this morning how woefully ignorant I am about art in general b/c I managed to avoid ever taking an art class, in either high school or college. I regret that some b/c I just have no idea what I'm looking at when I go to an art museum (tho I was a bit surprised to enjoy the modern art museum more than the other sort - you have to use your imagination so much when you look at the Picasso's and Dali's that I actually feel like I know a bit how to "understand" them :-) When I look at a more traditional painting of a meadow, for instance, I just see a meadow :-) ) Anyway, I realized while talking to that friend that I used all my electives in college to take Spanish classes. Which I guess wasn't such a bad decision after all :-).

I'm very glad that I got to see Guernica. Now to check off the other things we studied about in Ms. Power's Spanish classes :-). (the Alhambra in Granada being the one that jumps to mind) Once again, we are pinching ourselves over here!

Becca