Viva Espaņa

 I recently spent a month in Madrid. I have to believe that it is one of the most beautiful and engaging cities in the world. There are many cultural attractions like the Prado and the Reina Sofia. Art seems to be a part of daily life in Madrid. There are fountains and statues on nearly every street corner and the architecture is both lovely and functional. I am well aware that it has been dolled up for the tourist trade, but even taking that into account, art seems to be a vital, natural part of the city life. I went to the Prado and the Reina Sofia art museums when they had free admission, and it seemed that everyone in Madrid was there. Okay, I exaggerate a bit, but I was truly impressed by the numbers of people in the art museums, enjoying the art as part of their weekend. There were children, families, couples who were very obvoiusly on dates, old people, tourists -- every sort of person you can imagine was in the museum, looking at the art. And they were talking about it too -- very animatedly, I might add. And it wasn't the sort of sotto voce "art discussion" that you hear in the States (Oh, isn't it exquisite!, His work is so emotional. etc, etc...), but critical comments, jokes, observations -- in short, real conversation. I was impressed by these people, and the organic role that art seemed to play in their lives. I mean, isn't that the purpose of art? To communicate with people? And when people place art in some realm away from themselves, doesn't that place a barrier between people and art, making communication even harder? Isn't this barrier counterproductive? And isn't that barrier the hallmark of the American approach to art? Well, these pages are my contribution to the solution to this problem.

[Spain Front] [Prado] [Reina Sofia] [Spain Links]




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