Playing Hooky with Hockney

Since we took our kids out of school in Granada and brought them to Madrid to see the Oklahoma City Thunder play Real Madrid last night we figured we needed to add some culture to our trip in order to justify the absences.  We stayed the night at the Novotel Madrid Center located around the corner from the Barclaycard Center.  It was perfect because we had three beds in each room that were really comfortable plus a rain shower.  In Europe a family of five has to get two rooms.  The Novotel was the most reasonably priced (133 Euros) and caters to business people and families.  There is a variety of restaurants available down the street for breakfast and we even found one that served eggs or huevos. That’s not always easy to find here.

We took the 20 minute walk through the city with the kids to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, one of Madrid’s acclaimed art museums.  We saw art by David Hockney, Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Salvador Dali and Paul Klee.  And that was just the first floor! (or floor 0 as they call it here).  We were excited to see a painting by Mark Rothko since I had the opportunity to teach a lesson about him as an art docent last year in California. We also caught a special exhibition of Gustavo Caillebotte.

Visting one floor of this museum is plenty when you’re rolling with a crew like mine (2 boys 11 and 8 and a 10 year old girl, oh, and a husband). They were actually pretty interested and I figured less is more in order to make an impact or lasting impression.  We used the headsets so we could move at our own pace, learn more information and find what inspired each of us.

I do recommend heading there if you get the chance to visit Madrid.  I’m in love with this city and all it has to offer!

Street Art in Spain

Spain is full of graffiti, or street art.  Granada seems to be covered in it and I’m trying to decide whether it distracts from the beauty or gives the city an edge and character.

Do you love it or hate it? I can’t decide. It depends on which corner I turn.  Most of it I despise, particularly when it’s just tagging on an ancient church.  It just reeks of disrespect. Apparently there is a hefty fine of 3000 Euros but I haven’t seen that as a deterrent here.

But I can tell you there are some amazing murals found on the walls throughout the city and it would be great to see these artists talents put to better use or at least have their art positioned or commissioned where it would be appreciated.  In some places the government is actually commissioning some of these artists to spray paint on walls throughout Europe.

In 2014 Madrid ran a “contest” for street artists. Really, it was just a ploy to identify the artists work so they could arrest them in the future.  Pretty smooth!

The Oasis hostel actually offers a free tour of the street art in the city.

Do you love it or hate it?  Where have you seen the best street art?  I’d love to hear your thoughts and I’ll be on the lookout for the most interesting, creative street art.  Stay tuned.

Some samples around town: