- Two visits to the Prado plus the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the Reina Sofía, home to Picasso’s Guernica.
- Lesser-known places include the Sorolla Museum and Goya frescoes at San Antonio de la Florida.
- The lecturers Gail Turner, Gijs van Hensbergen and Dr Xavier Bray are art historians specialising in Spain.
INTRODUCTION
Madrid, The Velazquez Room in the Prado after a drawing by Joseph Pennell 1903.
While the Museo del Prado alone might justify a visit to Madrid – and this tour has two sessions there, the city has other excellent collections which reinforce its reputation as one of the great art centres of Europe.
This city of Velázquez and Goya has been enormously enhanced over the years by the installation of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the Reina Sofía Museum. Both these and the Prado have undergone major extension work under architects Jean Nouvel (Reina Sofía), Manuel Baquero and Francesc Plá (Thyssen) and Rafael Moneo (Prado). New exhibiting spaces, restaurants and lecture theatres lend even greater lustre to these world-class galleries. Our stints at the ‘big three’ are interspersed with less-visited collections, many of them recently restored.
The great Spanish painters – including El Greco, Murillo, Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso – are of course magnificently represented on the tour, but the collecting mania of the Habsburgs and Bourbons and their subjects has resulted in a wide range of artistic riches which will surprise and delight. There is a large number of outstanding paintings by Titian and Rubens, for example, and the Prado has by far the largest holding of the bizarre creations of Hieronymus Bosch.
This city of Velázquez and Goya has been enormously enhanced over the years by the installation of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the Reina Sofía Museum. Both these and the Prado have undergone major extension work under architects Jean Nouvel (Reina Sofía), Manuel Baquero and Francesc Plá (Thyssen) and Rafael Moneo (Prado). New exhibiting spaces, restaurants and lecture theatres lend even greater lustre to these world-class galleries. Our stints at the ‘big three’ are interspersed with less-visited collections, many of them recently restored.
The great Spanish painters – including El Greco, Murillo, Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso – are of course magnificently represented on the tour, but the collecting mania of the Habsburgs and Bourbons and their subjects has resulted in a wide range of artistic riches which will surprise and delight. There is a large number of outstanding paintings by Titian and Rubens, for example, and the Prado has by far the largest holding of the bizarre creations of Hieronymus Bosch.
ITINERARY
DAY 1
Fly at c. 9.15am (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Madrid. Start with a first visit to the Prado Museum, which is among the world’s greatest art galleries; concentrating on the Spanish school. Settle into the hotel before dinner.
DAY 2
Morning visits include the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, home to works by Goya, Zurbarán, Ribera and Murillo, and the Museum of Decorative Arts, with an 18th-century tiled Valencian kitchen. The afternoon is spent at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, housed in the 18th-century Palacio de Villahermosa until its purchase by the Spanish state in 1993 one of the world’s largest private art collections.
DAY 3
Begin at the recently renovated Archaeological Museum, good on ancient Iberian civilization and Roman Spain. Continue to the Lázaro Galdiano Museum with works by El Greco, Goya and Murillo. The afternoon is free to allow for temporary exhibitions (details nearer the time) or a visit to the 18th-century Royal Palace.
DAY 4
Travel by coach to the Sorolla Museum, the charming house of the eponymous Impressionist painter. Continue to the arcaded, balconied Plaza Mayor, centrepiece of Habsburg town planning. In the afternoon return to the Prado, this time primarily to see the Italian and Netherlandish schools.
DAY 5
Walk via Herzog & de Meuron’s Caixaforum (visit dependent on the exhibition at the time) to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, one of the greatest modern art museums and home to Picasso’s Guernica plus works by Miró, Dalí and Tàpies. Fly to London Heathrow, arriving c. 6.00pm (Iberia).
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