Guernica and Madrid
I arrived in Madrid after some delays at 23.30 on Saturday – and headed for my hotel which is just off the Gran VÃa. Yesterday after stopping off at the Media Lab Prado to check out all the projects I convinced K to come to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofÃa to see Guernica. It was an amazing experience which I was totally surprised by. The painting is huge and yet looks really fragile. The artwork is superb – it draws you and mesmerizes you. It compels you to look at it from all angles – to absorb the message. Now I understand why Picasso was considered a genius. There is so much strength and movement in it. It is terrifying and pitying. It makes you feel that the whole desperate affair of war is one that is scared of observation and discovery and flourishes only in the dark unseen corners. Once exposed to the condemnatory light of observations is rears back in terror – echoing the terror it creates by its existence.
After wandering around the centre of Madrid and looking at various plazas we went to Fast Good for a tasty evening meal. This morning we succumbed to the temptation of chocolate con churros and went to ChocolaterÃa San Gines which is said to serve the best in Madrid. The chocolate was good and so thick and dipping the fatty doughy churros in was delightful but a whole plate finished me off and I now feel as if I should only eat fruit for the rest of the day to counteract the effects.