Life reflects art? The Reina Sofia museum in Madrid is home to Picasso’s famous Guernica, and many works by other Spanish artists, including Miro and Dali. A fabulous place to discover the art, artists, and ideas of the 20th century.
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Art reflects life at Reina Sophia
Life reflects art? The Reina Sofia museum in Madrid is home to Picasso’s famous Guernica, and many works by other Spanish artists, including Miro and Dali. A fabulous place to discover the art, artists, and ideas of the 20th century.
Guernica
Picasso’s Guernica is on display at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. I remembered learning about it in Spanish classes and made a point to see it on my trip. Guernica was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso to create a large mural for the Spanish display at the Paris International Exposition at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. It has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace.
An Alternative to the Prado
Everyone goes to the Prado, my Spanish hosts exclaimed, but you should check out the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. So I did. Outside the entrance of the former hospital, glass elevators take visitors floor to floor for stunning exhibit after exhibit. This museum has it’s center piece - the huge and powerful La Guernica by Picasso about the Spanish Civil War. Instead of everything starting to look the same, which I do feel at classical art museums, the installations and exhibits surprise and provoke.
