Art!

So far on my trip, I've seen a lot (let me emphasize, a LOT) of art. In Amsterdam, I went to the Van Gogh Museum. In Barcelona, I went to the Picasso Museum. Here in Madrid, I went to El Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and the Reina Sofia Museum. I've seen works by Van Gogh (duh), Picasso (duh), El Greco, Goya, Dali, Liechtenstein, Man Ray, and all kinds of others. I've unintenionally started teaching myself about art. Surprisingly, I'm enjoying it.

I've been to tons of art museums before. I went to two in Vienna, I've done the Metropolitan Museum of Art twice in New York City, and I've been to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC as well. MOMA in NYC is probably my favorite. But that's because I was able to take this picture:

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved Van Gogh. However, these last few weeks have given me a better appreciation for art in general.

Both the Picasso and the Van Gogh museums focused on their particular artist, showcased a huge amount of their work, and showed how they developed and grew as artists. The Van Gogh museum especially showed how the area he was in and the situation in his life could manipulate how he perceived things. In his last few years, he was really going insane and his art reflected it.

I'm not an expert. I've never really studied art, but I have a newfound appreciation for it, as I've already mentioned. However, as my girlfriend and I have discussed many times, I definitely feel that just because something is artistic doesn't make it good. Cinema especially bothers me in this field. There is such a thing as bad art. If there's no point and nothing is said and it's not entertaining, people will feel that it's bad. For me, cubism drives me insane most of the time. I feel that it's a step backwards from greatness a lot of the time. On the other hand, there are some great cubist paintings.

Today I saw Guernica, which is easily my favorite Picasso painting that I know (and I'm not a huge fan of his other stuff), and I got chills. The Reina Sofia Museum does a great job of building it up for you. It has several sketches and plans that he drew before actually attempting the thing, and it shows photos of it as a work in progress. It's a masterpiece in every way, because he actually organized the chaos.

Another painting I was familiar with was Goya's Third of May 1808. It's a famous picture of inhuman brutality (kind of like Guernica, only it's a bit more realistic). It's another HUGE painting, and it goes better with the painting it was supposed to go next to, like in the museum. I dunno, when I saw this in a textbook it meant nothing, but now it means a lot after seeing it.

Speaking of Goya, I saw this in a textbook as a child, and it scared the hell out of me. It's Saturn, or Cronus, depending on how you want to look at it, eating his children because he's afraid that one of them will overthrow him. Of course, one of them ends up being hidden from him and ends up becoming Zeus the Almighty, but that's just how the story goes. But yeah, I had never thought of it in a political context, and it's as fascinating and disturbing as ever. When a government is destroying its own, it's acting out of fear of retribution. I know it seems kind of obvious, but I'm a slow thinker sometimes.

El Greco is one I never really cared much for until seeing his works in person. They almost leap out at you, it's great. My only problem with Rennaissance paintings is that they all seem to be about the same thing (that Jesus guy). And other than the occasional genius, they all seem to be painted the same way. I dunno, this guy just feels kind of like William Blake. It's great.

Finally, there's Dali. I fell in love with Dali a while back, and he's still as great as ever to me. I could have used more Dali, but oh well. This one made me laugh. It's called "El Enigma de Hitler", and for some reason, it cracks me up.

Yeah, I know I'm not an art critic, but it's a newfound fascination for me.