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The various museums I visited in Madrid differ from each other, in their themes and time periods. Like the Prado contains paintings all the way to the 1800s, while the Reina Sofia focuses on modern art. It is a good thing that I read about Reina before going, so I knew what to expect. Else, given its name, I would have expected to see the royal collection of paintings, with Christian themes. And it had nothing close to that at all! The museum owns more than 23 thousand pieces of photographs and paintings. And they are all modern art, from the 1900s onwards. Corridors of Reina Sofia The museum is huge, covering 4 floors plus an extension. It was constructed initially to be used as a hospital but ended up being used as a museum. So its architecture resembles a hospital more than a museum still. All around are corridors lined with rooms where the paintings are housed, far away from each other. And in the middle of the building is a garden which can be seen from the corridors. I had v...

The Thyssen was my favourite museum of the ones I went to in Madrid. And it has an interesting history. This museum showcases paintings collected by the Thyssen-Bornemisza family over the years, one of the largest personal art collections in the world. Even though the Baron was German and wanted to have the display in Germany itself, it ended up shifting to Spain, in the 1990s. Of course, the fact that he was married to a Spanish woman had a part to play in it 😜.   (You can see the museum in 360 view here ) The museum houses some 1600 paintings, some of which the Spanish government bought from the family and the rest are loaned to the museum for a couple of years at a time. Since it is a personal collection, the pieces here span from pre-renaissance times all the way up to modern artists of the 20th century. And the display provides a sort of highlight of the painting styles over the centuries. Galleries of Thyssen The museum is spread over three floors with paintings ...

This fall, I got a chance to spend a few weeks in Madrid. Madrid has always been known for its art and painting scene but I never explored it much in my earlier trips. But this time, it being lockdown season with limited things to do, plus my recently discovered love for painting led me to spend a considerable amount of time exploring the various museums of Madrid. This time around for sure, I was able to appreciate them more plus learn a bit about how I can improve my own paintings too. I visited the Thyssen, Reina Sofia, Prado and Sorolla museums during my stay. Most of them when they were free to visit. Given the pandemic, one had to book online even for the free slots, to limit the number of visitors. And surprisingly, the slots got booked very early on. All these museums are different from each other. Thyssen has paintings from a private collection and so has an eclectic mix of painters from different eras, of various painting styles. Prado covers the pre-1800 art while the R...

Shogun is a popular book based on Japan, written by James Clavell in the 70s. It is a fictional account of the experiences of a British sailor who is marooned in the Japan of the 1600s, the era of shoguns and samurais. The book is based on real events but of course is hugely fictionalised. The setting of the book is like that of an epic and it is a mesmerising account of how the country may have been like when it was closed to the world. It is an awesome read, grand in its setting and ambitious in its scope. Once picked, it is tough to let go of it till you finish it. For me, ever since I visited Japan, I have been quite fascinated by the country. Ive read a few books to understand the culture more - the sound of waves, a tale for the time being, Shibumi, Ikigai and even Pachinko. But I think the book I was looking for was Shogun. It gave a comprehensive view of what the Japanese society was like, and why it may have evolved into what it is now. I am sure the book has its flaws, but it...

Ask yourself a few questions today  Do you feel your mind is always whirring, always running? Jumping from one to the next to-do? Planning the day ahead without pausing enough for the moment now? Even when you are ‘relaxing’? Do you feel you are always running to deadlines, whether at work, or even in personal life? Even when you may not have to?  Do you sometimes feel guilty when you have free time, and you don’t do something ‘productive’ with it?  Do you feel a pressure to always multi-task? To listen to a book or podcast while running? To read something while in the tube? To do something on your laptop while watching tv? To check your phone while having a conversation with a friend?  Do you find it tough to sit and focus on one task for too long, without your mind wandering somewhere else? Do you find yourself unable to just read a book or exercise, without getting distracted with something else, especially your phone?  Do you find it difficult to stay away f...

This article is an incomplete list, of some artists I have encountered while visiting museums (mostly in NY Met and the Prado in Madrid), when I liked some of their paintings and noted it down 😊. I hope to keep updating and adding to this list as I explore more art. Older Artists Juan di Espinosa:  I liked his still life paintings at the Prado museum in Madrid. He painted fruits on a table, like grapes, figs, plums and apples, each one of the fruits appearing life like. As much as I generally don't get drawn to still life paintings, his were different. And I would love to have one in my dining room. You can see these paintings  here , and my favourite of these were Grapes and apple and Octagonal still life . Leonardo Da Vinci: To be honest, I have seen a lot of his paintings, in National Gallery in London, in Florence, Louvre and so on. But I was never drawn to them. When reading his biography though, I understand why he is known as a master. Some of the effec...

Here are a few art pieces over the years, which have stayed with me. Along with the story linked to it. I am also including some sculptures and handicraft pieces which I really liked. This is of course a small subsection of art I have liked over the years, depending on whether I remembered and/or was allowed to take a photo of them. Going forward I plan to be more diligent in capturing such art which draws me, and posting them here... Whistlejacket Whistlejacket by George Stubbs, or just 'the horse', National Museum, London (UK), 2004 This painting of a horse is a huge one and sits amid many paintings of the Renaissance era, with very different subjects. Somehow, it had made a very strong impact on me, the first time I saw it in 2004. And its maybe the first painting I really liked and remembered. When I was exploring possibly my first non-Indian museum ever. The painting wasn't by any of the masters like Da Vinci and Reubens and so on. But it still stuck with...