I stayed up until 3.30am last night. I think I was semi wired from the football and experiencing some sporadic jetlag. I was also chatting on facebook and trying to upload photos onto my blog, something that is not working currently - it is fricken annoying!
Anyway, was up again at 7am and couldn't bring myself to go back to sleep. I think I am quite excited. I wish I'd gone back to the same local bar for breakfast as the man was special and it felt like my familiar local. I remember this being such a part of Italian culture; to know your bar and to go there regularly to drink coffee and chat with your extended family, or community. It seems like it might be the same in Spain.
Instead, I went to another one further up the road in a square and they were quite impolite; colder and more distant and I was charged over double for a breakfast that was similar but not as good. That's why it is good to know the locals. Familiarity and routine definitely have their place, and definitely help to make us feel safe and trusting. I have always slightly envied people with a routine that has been in place for many years. Having said that, I also love having a quest for change and adventure. Balance is the key they say, knowing your needs and wants, boundaries, strengths and limitations. Anyway, going off track... where were we? Mah, I left that bar after telling them how expensive they were. I made a joke out of it but I was bloody serious!
Then I followed my familiar route back to el paseo de prado and, in the 35 degree heat, I crawled my way up the boulevard to the museo del collecion Thyssen-Bornemisza. It holds the collection of art of Baron Heinrich and illustrates the history of western art due to it's 800 paintings from different cultures and genres; Titian, Van Gogh, Picasso, Goya and the Baroness's collection of mainly impressionist art, including paintings by Monet and Matisse (apparently famous as a fauvist artist too but don't quote me as I was trying to get my head around the genres for possibly the first time ever.
I felt slightly overwhelemed by all the periods or genres; Expressionism, Impressionism; early and late, Post Impressionism, Post post Impressionism (just kidding), german Expressionism, Northerm American Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Fauvism, Realism and the country world, italian paining, Flemish and Dutch painting, Early Avant-garde of the 20th century, North American painting of the 19th Century, Lanscape painting and the list goes on.... the rest area was calling my aching bones after 3 hours of wandering around in a sea of artwork spreading across cultures and centuries.
My happiest outcome of the experience were the reflections I made on art and the aesthetic beauty of man-made artwork, or what we enjoy art-wise and why. I have always thought Renaissance Art is intricate and surrounded with an abundance of culture and history, I have found it skillful, portraying genius. It also entered my heart at a time when I was exploring parts of myself, when I was young and easily manipulated by others' ideas and social and cultural constructs. I was also exploring my romantic side in a foreign culture. It began when I was travelling with my father and I was compared to Boticelli paintings. Ok, this happened once but it was enough to have me fall for the Birth of Venus.
However, Renaissance painting is very often precise and without intense or deep emotion. It is more often than not religious and commissioned to portray certain themes and characters. It holds a very special place in my heart but my days of being a Renaissance purist are up and I am tuning into art that engages more of my senses.
In psychosynthesis it is said that much of our personal growth is about integrating mind, body and spirit and this is what I was witnessing while I pondered the various works of art. It is interesting how learning about artists and their histories and styles can engage your mind, while your heart is in turn influenced by this and also by sight and spirit. I was loving my journey around the gallery. It felt like a spiritual journey into the heart of art.
I was exhausted after 3 hours in there. Also because a woman had started talking to me about Salvador Dali (apparently he was impotent which is why objects in his paintings are often droopy, and apparently he was obsessed with time and death which is why he always draws quite scary or contorted scenes, and clocks) and then continued to talk about the woman she was travelling with and how negative she is, and how hard it is travelling with her. That might seem ironic given her own negativity but humans are funny like that, aren't they? We actually got on very well until she introduced me to the woman which felt somehow wrong and awkward. I am, however, glad I met her. We talked about meditation and mindfulness, which seems the way of the future and many a person's passion these days. I went out and straight to a bar for a beer. I have to stop doing that... nahhhh. The waiter offered me food as this is what happens in Spain. Every time you order a drink they give you an antipasto or tapas. This time it was Pig's ears and Octopus head. I kid you not! It was very tasty as long as I engaged my taste, rather than my mind. Erggh but the cartalidge in the ear was a texture not to be reckoned with.
After that I caught the Metro to Palacio Reale and took photos, and lay briefly in the sun. My body is so sore.
Ok, so then to another bar for lemonade this time. And guess where then???
El Museo de Jamon!!!!!!! You can get ham, prosciutto, chorizo or salami rolls for a euro each and beers for the same price. it is full of jamons/hams/prosciuttos and packed with people on foot enjoying the cheap cold beer and real grub. I think I might need to stop having such an intense love affair with jamon and branch out into paella or something else Spanish!
I came home, after that on foot and I have been trying to upload photos and the bloody thing still won't work! Mamma mia.... time for a rest, will do it later!
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