The Golden Triangle

When I was debating whether or not to go to Madrid before I went to Portugal, I asked a co-worker who’d been there. “Depends what you like,” he said. “If you like museums and culture, then Madrid is beautiful.” Although not a stellar review I decided to go for it. I like museums and Madrid is known for its “Golden Triangle:” the Museo del Prado, the more modern Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Center and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art, known for its collection of Egyptians paintings and artifacts.

I read about the Prado and knew that its collection was extensive. I decided to check it out my first day. I purposely went after 5pm because that’s when entry is free. It seems like a few other people had the same idea.

This first visit was intended as a scouting exhibition. I wanted to see what it was like, get the layout, see what kind of stuff was in the collection and develop a strategy. There’s nothing I hate more than microwaving a museum. What is microwaving a museum you ask? The term was introduced to me by my friend Cassandra. Microwaving a museum is doing it really fast and only really getting to see the famous stuff. Just like when you microwave food, all the backup flavour is gone, when you microwave a museum you see the famous stuff and breeze through the other perhaps more interesting things. There are some museums you have to microwave for time constraints (ie. the Louvre). I microwaved the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, because we didn’t have enough time. But the Prado is known for so much beautiful art I wanted to take my time. I was in Madrid for four days, (minus one spent in Toledo) and on my own so I could take as much time as I wanted.


All in all I spent about 8 hours there. I spent two hours that first day perusing the first floor. Then I came back Tuesday (for free because I’m a European student), and spent another six hours seeing everything. Every floor, every painting, every sculpture. I even listened to the audio guide. I brought a snack in case I got hungry, which I did. Afterward I was so exhausted I sat in the gardens to rest my tired feet. But it was worth it. I saw not only the masterpiece’s but some unknown stuff that I liked. I developed an appreciation for Goya and highly recommend his Black paintings.

The next day, I checked out the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum. The Reina Sofia is known mostly for its Dali and Picassos. Those were all really interesting. Guernica is really moving once you know the context. Otherwise I feel you might thing it’s just odd—it is modern art after all. I may have experienced a bit of the prom effect because it was hyped so much. But there were other paintings that really resonated with me.

Dali’s Girl at a Window

Hermenegildo Camarasa’s “Retrato de Sonia Klamery."

Despite these favourites, I have to admit I microwaved this one a bit. After the first 8 or 9 rooms of Picassos and the Dalis, there’s just a lot of really modern art, as in squares of colour or coat hangers suspended on a wire. I walked by a ten foot shelf stacked with old books and asked myself how that was art. I can’t really handle things like that. I’m too much of a linear thinker. So I just walked past them, doing my best to assess the artistic quality in them for 2.5 seconds, then moved on.

Even the building is modern with a glass elevator and avant garde statues in the garden.

The Reina Sofia

View from the glass elevator

Statues in the garden

I didn't check out the Egyptian museum because a) I don't really care about Egyptian art, b) I didn't have time and c) I had to pay, which after free entrance into the Prado, I was not feeling.