One of the best ways to fill a weekend in the Spanish capital is by visiting the city's fantastic galleries – then refuelling with 'raciones' or 'chocolate con churros', writes LORRAINE COURTNEY
IN 1937 PABLO PICASSO was working on a mural for Spain’s pavilion at the World Exposition in Paris when the story broke of a blitzkrieg assault on
Guernica
. Seized by a graphic report of the destruction of the Basque town, Picasso abandoned his project and began to execute, with speed and precision, a mythical interpretation of the chaos of war. That painting has become an icon. As you gaze at the vast canvas hanging in the Reina Sofía museum, in Madrid, you realise its power has not been diluted.
The frenzied, helpless, agonised figures, cutting through space in every direction, are locked together like the pieces of a jigsaw. They appear to be held in a terrible stillness that the explosive force in every centimetre of the design is endlessly trying to break through.
An astounding genius underlies the deeply personal iconography. Picasso’s choice and placing of actors and props compels: the bull, the horse, the bird, the flower, the fallen warrior, the woman mourning a dead child, the woman falling from a burning house. Yet they were worked out within a few short weeks of the air raid with a conviction that gives Guernica the inevitability of the classic religious iconographies – of crucifixion or resurrection or entombment – that it took a whole civilisation centuries to evolve.
The painting that draws the biggest crowds in the nearby Prado is Velázquez's Las Meninas. Velázquez was court painter to Philip IV in the middle of the 17th century, and as the supervisor of art acquisitions for the king he was responsible for many of the works hanging in the gallery. Las Meninasis a remarkable achievement, an interplay of clever perspectives and strange figures.
Remarkably, the painting takes you through the eyes of the king and queen of Spain, looking at Velázquez and the back of the frame they are being painted on to. In the foreground is their daughter, the five-year-old Infanta Margarita, who clearly doesn't want to pose. Two meninas, or ladies-in-waiting, are trying to cajole her into participating; two dwarfs have been vainly brought in for her amusement. In the far background of the painting a mysterious figure watches proceedings.
If Velázquez remains the most painterly of Spanish painters, Goya's range and menace supply a brilliant bridge between the sombre values of the classic masters and the scatter-shot rhetoric of modernism. Goya then shows another, more mischievous side, with the Majas, two paintings of a reclining lady, one dressed, one fabulously naked, hanging side by side.
The painter’s sombre series of paintings and sketches done late in his life, known as his black period, are startlingly modern. They hint at what is to come in Spanish art – and the horrors of what is to come in Spanish history, too. One is of a dog swimming; you can see only its head, but from the terror in its eyes you can see it is drowning.
As men cannot live by art alone, Madrid is one of the best cities for foodies: a simple roast suckling pig for instance, or raciones(small plates) of marinated octopus. Don't skip the famous cured hams: jamón serranoand the buttery jamón ibérico, best enjoyed by themselves on a plate, or atop pan tomaca, toast rubbed with garlic and a thin sheen of tomato. Then there's paella from Valencia, Catalan patatas alioliand pasties from Toledo.
Sitting on the top of the Meseta plateau, Madrid has no navigable river and vast extremes of climate. You could hardly get farther from the sea. It was in many ways an appalling place to build a capital city. Before 1561 it was a provincial town of 20,000 inhabitants. Then Felipe II, ruler of a recently united country and a recently acquired empire, decided he needed a place to settle his hitherto itinerant entourage of court hangers-on, somewhere that didn’t house an aristocratic power base that would threaten his status. He needed a capital for his growing empire.
So Madrid grew around the court of Felipe and his successors. For centuries the city was referred to simply as la corte(the court). Most of the buildings in the centre of the city, from the 16th-century Plaza Mayor to the 21st-century Puerta de Europa towers, reflect Madrid's sense of haughtiness.
Ernest Hemingway did much to fix the city in the popular imagination, with musings such as “it makes you feel badly, all questions of immortality aside, to know that you will die and never see it again”.
One weekend, three artists, countless tapas and I’m mad about it. Completely. Head over heels.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go in the city
5 places to stay
Hotel Eurostars. Paseo de la Castellana 259b, 00-34-91- 3342700, eurostarsmadrid tower.com. Occupies the site of the old Real Madrid stadium. Expect pillow menus, intelligent telephones and the usual five-star fripperies. From €100.
Hotel Meninas. 7 Calle Campomanes, 00-34-91- 5412805, hotelmeninas.es. Carefully blends old and contemporary, keeping an eye on its architectural past while still creating an utterly modern experience. All 37 rooms are in chic shades of black and have minimalist bathrooms in grey marble. Doubles from €129.
Óscar. Plaza Vázquez de Mella 12, 00-34-91-7011173, room-matehotels.com. Chic-yet-cheap hotel that offers funky, minimalist bedrooms (you may find the shower adrift in the middle of the room) in a former bank. The terrace bar has a pool and is buzzing on summer nights. Rooms from €90.
Hotel Ritz. Plaza de la Lealtad 5, 00-34-91-7016767, ritzmadrid.com. Madrid’s premier hotel. Built in 1910, it retains its belle-epoque elegance. The garden terrace is the perfect spot to linger. Doubles from €550.
Hotel Urban. Carrera de San Jerónimo 34, 00-34-91- 7877770, hotelurban.com. All iron pillars, wall upon wall of glass and remarkable art on loan from the Clos Archaeological Foundation. Strangely, it blends with the black-leather-and-steel-mesh furniture, wood-panelled walls and bathrooms of Macael marble and chrome. There’s a cool pool on the roof deck. Rooms start at €160.
5 places to eat
Restaurante Botín. 17 Calle Cuchilleros, 00-34-91-3664217, botin.es. Dating back to 1725, this is supposedly the world's oldest restaurant. The dining rooms are a study in old Madrid, with dark wood-beamed ceilings and lots of bullfighter pictures on the walls. Botín also serves some of the finest suckling pig in the city. Jake and Brett wind up at this sepia-toned eatery towards the end of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.
Chocolatería San Ginés. Pasadizo de San Ginés, 00-34-91-3656546. The hot chocolate that fuels many Madrileños has the consistency of emulsion paint, presenting the palate with a sweet, warm richness. Churrosare deep-fried swirls of batter, doused in icing sugar. A seductive combination.
El Cenador del Prado. Calle del Prado 4, 00-34-91-4291561, elcenadordelprado.com. A showcase of regional cuisine. Salted cod in breadcrumbs with garlic and grape garnish, medallions of venison with cheese ravioli and quince, beef carpaccio with pig’s trotter in a mushroom sauce – all the dishes here are prepared with virgin olive oil and dressed with fresh herbs.
Champagnería Gala. Calle de Moratin 22, 00-34-91-4292562. An unremarkable door leads you to an indoor canopied garden where huge dishes of paella, risottos and fideuàs(Catalan noodles) are served with sparkling Spanish wines.
Ramses. Plaza de la Independencia 4, 00-34-91- 4351666, ramseslife.com. Has a lavishly decorated second-floor bistro, serving dishes that have set well-heeled Madrilenos swooning, such as candied loin of cod with tripe stew. But food will always taste better when you’re sitting on a Philippe Starck chair.
5 places to go
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. 52 Calle Santa Isabel, 00-34-91-7741000, museoreinasofia.es. A spectacular triangular-roofed addition by the French starchitect Jean Nouvel has boosted what was already Spain's most important modern-art museum into the capital's new must-see. The permanent collection, which stays in the 18th-century hospital, is essential viewing: Miró, Dalí and Barceló are especially well represented, and Picasso's iconic Guernicais here.
Museo Nacional del Prado. Paseo del Prado, 00-34-91-3302800, museodelprado.es. This magnificent museum is now bigger and better thanks to Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo's addition. Highlights include Velázquez's Las Meninas, a sweeping collection of Goyas and a fascinating group of paintings by El Greco, with his trademark ghostly use of colour.
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. 8 Paseo del Prado, 00-34-91- 3690151, museothyssen.org. This collection of old masters and major 19th- and 20th-century works amassed by the late industrialist Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza has graced Madrid since 1992. In 2004 an extension opened, making room for some 200 more pieces by artists including Kirchner, Kandinsky, Fragonard and Corot.
Parque del Buen Retiro. Plaza de Murillo. The Retiro can't claim to be Madrid's green lung in the way that Casa de Campo can, but it has an ineffable charm nonetheless. It's the place to promenade. Vendors hawk everything from wafers to etchings, and you'll also see tarot readers, footballers and elderly men playing petanca.
Alcalá de Henares. Take a bus or train to this Unesco World Heritage city. Not only is it a lovely old town, with storks nesting on rooftops; it was also home to the golden-nibbed Miguel de Cervantes. Here the Don Quixoteauthor dreamed up his tales of windmills and portly horsemen.
Hot spot
Isolée. 19 Calle Infantas, 00-34-91-522-8138, isolee.com. A multifunctional space, incorporating fashion, home decor and gourmet food shops, chosen by Moët Chandon to house its Bubble Lounge, one of only four in the world. The lounge, done out in black and gold, is frequented by a chic predinner crowd. Champagne is sold by the glass or bottle, and the cocktail menu includes a Moët Bellini and a Moët mimosa.
Shop spot
Stop off at Hoss Intropia (16 Calle Serrano, 00-34-91- 7810612, hossintropia.com) for an ever-so-slightly Bohemian elegance. Tweeds, wools and gossamer chiffon work together in a palette of rich browns, taupe, navy and fuchsia pinks. Oh-so-delicate embroidery and embellishments add individuality. It’s not very demanding on the recessionary purse, either.