(almost) fainting in el prado

Paloma always tells us (in English) that she is the best house mom. I believe it. Her food is incredible. Last night, we had garbanzos in some kind of soup, and I'm going to have to ask her for the recipe. She also fixed chicken hamburgers (without buns) which were interesting, but not horrible. She gives us all kinds of fruit that is SO fresh: apples, bananas, watermelon, oranges. We may eat at odd hours, but it is so worth it.

Today was almost too much for me. In class, we watched "Un perro andaluz," a film by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. If you know anything about surrealism and Dali's work, you know it's got to be a strange short film. I've seen it before in a class at Auburn, so it was a little easier to see that cutting open a woman's eye could represent sexual oppression...not. Surrealists. What is there to say?!

After class, our group went to El Museo Nacional Del Prado. I nearly fainted/ wet my pants/ cried again. We started with Goya. GOYA. In the 1700's-1800's, many noble Spanish families commissioned him to paint portraits of their families. He painted the "Familia de Carlos IV" in 1800 and I saw it today! It's terribly interesting. The queen is actually in the center of the portrait because she really ran the country, whilst Carlos only concerned himself with art and music. Their son, Fernando II was next in line to take the throne, but you can see his younger brother with an arm wrapped around Fernando's waist. Little brother wanted the throne, and Goya was clever enough to paint this into the portrait. Goya himself is featured as the painter in the portrait, modeled after a painting by Velazquez. There's also a woman beside Fernando with her face turned away from us; she is betrothed to Fernando, but no one knew who she was at the time. Que interesante!

I nearly cried when I saw Goya's "El dos y el tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid." They are two separate paintings: el dos depicting an uprising of the Spaniards against Napoleon's forces during his occupation of Spain, and el tres depicting Napoleon's forces in the act of executing the Spaniards who had not yet been killed. They are huge, remarkable paintings full of little things to see. The firing squad in el tres doesn't have visible faces on any of the soldiers; they were considered monolithic killing machines and didn't deserve recognition. The main victim is wearing white and appears to exude light with raised arms...he's said to resemble Christ during the Crucifixion. Incredible.

We also saw "La maja desnuda," which has a sister painting of the maja clothed, but it is housed somewhere else. Someone commissioned Goya to paint the two portraits of the body of his amante (lover) with the face of his wife (good call, mister). When members of the church or important people came to visit, the dressed woman would be shown. When friends visited, the owner rigged a machine to swap the dressed maja to the naked maja. Sneaky.

Then, Velazquez. Oh, Velazquez! I cannot begin to describe how much my jaw dropped when I finally saw "Las meninas." I could go on for forever about this painting, but I think this post is too long and not many people enjoy art lessons. (oops) Just know that Velazquez is famous for a reason. His "Surrender of Breda," "Los borrachos," "Apollo in the Forge of the Vulcan," and "Cristo crucificado" (along with so many others) are housed in the Prado and trust me, I saw all of them. He is so unique. Christ only had three nails when He was crucified, but in Sevilla and south of there they teach that four nails were used instead of three, so Velazquez painted four. In normal surrenders, there is a victor and loser , with either a large celebration or immense humiliation. Velazquez turned a metaphor into reality and had the loser turn in the key to Breda to the Spaniards who conquered it. So clever.

Enough about the Prado. I could probably live there and never get tired of seeing beautiful art and analyzing every little detail. Sara and I walked through the park to get home, and we stopped at a little restaurant for a snack. Snacks here consist of two baby sandwiches and a drink or coffee or one bigger sandwich, etc. We snacked around 5 which was perfect because we didn't eat fish (anyone know what hake is? Cause we ate it tonight and loved it) and summer salad and some kind of French summer drink made with potatoes, onions, and milk...until about 9pm. But it was delicious.

Today is Piper's first birthday, and the ladies at her kennel said they would give her an extra birthday hug today. I went in a pet shop and will probably end up buying Pipes a Spanish toy. Miss that little girl.

Okay. Blog done. Shower done. Homework done. It's 11 here and it's only been dark for 30 minutes. My bed is calling my name!