Museo del Prado

About a week and a half ago, our group took a weekday excursion to the Museo del Prado, which is probably the most famous art museum in Madrid. In the U.S. I'm not really a big art person, but it's definitely something I can appreciate here just because there's a much more rich history of art and culture. Before we left, Dr. Bryant gave us a brief art history lesson for 2 hours. Normally, that's not really my scene, but it was interesting to me because the subject of so many paintings here are either mythological or religious in nature, and it's cool to see different perspectives on stories that are such an integral part of Greco-Roman culture. As for the actual museum: it was incredible. I had actually come a couple of years ago with my family, but at that time I wasn't mature enough to appreciate what I was seeing. My favorite painting in the museum, which is pictured here, is Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco de Goya. It displays the Titan Saturn eating his children because of his fear that they would take over his power. This painting is my favorite because it evokes such visceral feelings of disgust. You can see the insanity in Saturn´s eyes, and the black background which was common for all of Goya´s series of black paintings forces the viewer´s attention onto the act being committed. I definitely hope to return at some point on this trip and see anything I might have missed.

Better late than never

What's up everybody! This blog is going to detail the experiences I have as I study abroad in Spain for 6 weeks. There'll be pictures, stories, and other goodies so keep checking. I'll probably do a post about our trips to Toledo and Segovia in a little bit. Until then, enjoy this picture of me holding an unnecessarily large cleaver.