I just spent a wonderful few days in Madrid. Here's a trip report :

http://sujaa.wordpress.com/2011/05/2...dly-in-madrid/

If you are interested in visiting Madrid, this might help you with your planning. There is linked post dedicated to Prado which may interest fellow art-lovers.
Cheers.

Thanks for that. Great format for a presentation.

Thank you! Beautiful report, makes me want to be in Madrid!

@worldinabag & Cruiseluv : Thank you I'm just back from Madrid 2 days and I am already wondering when I can revisit Spain

Suja

I was amused with your comments about the collection at the Reina. It was a 20 minute walk through for us because I share your lack of enthusiasm for the period . . . I remember bursting out laughing in front of a Miro . . .

Ian

Another beautiful trip report....concise and remarkably well written!!

I'll be in Madrid in September with my sisters, and this will be a first time visit for us as well, so I really appreciate your comments and tips.

@Ian : only 20 mins? So you didn't hear endure them waxing-lyrical about Miro in their audio-guides? You remind me of the time I was in Centre Pompidou in Paris with my family. My then 12 year son stared and stared at this painting, a composition of white-on-white, and said very loudly 'But Mum, there's nothing on this canvas!!' It reminded me so much of the 'emperor's new clothes' that I collapsed into hysterical giggling, joined in by my son Neither my husband nor the frowning security guard could shush us, we nearly got thrown out Ah, the pleasures of museum hopping

@Joy: Thank you so much for your kind words I hope you have a wonderful time in Madrid, it has so much to offer!

And I thank you for the report. Certainly after I read intrigued me the place. I think someday I will visit this place

Though the name of the plant the bear is feeding on is "Strawberry Tree", they are madrones (madroños, Arbustus Unedo), which is something different.

Thanks for the report, I love your photos. I share your opinion on Reina Sofia Museum too.

@zornica & josele : Thank you, I am glad you liked my report
@josele: Ah, that clears up the mystery..thanks to you and wiki, I know now that 'strawberry trees' dont bear strawberries at all but some other kind of berries which are liked by birds and bears! Thank you! I'll update my post with this info

That was some great review. I appreciate the link you provided. I guess it would really make traveling to Madrid easy.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on Madrid. Our daughter and husband are moving to Madrid in the next few weeks so I am looking forward to getting re-acquainted with the city. When I last visited (in Dec 1999) I loved the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Prado but I too was left cold by Reina Sofia, finding little to grab my attention.

@jh2011 : Thank you, I find other people's reports help me in my travels, I hope equally that mine comes in handy to others.

@bellini : Thank you for reading. Its lovely that you'll soon reaquaint yourself with this vibrant city. I am pleased that its not my 'missing gene' which makes me feel cold to art such as in Reina Sofia, that there are others like me

oh my, lovely report! it makes me want to return to Madrid, again. some day...thank you for taking the time to write it, I felt like I was right there with you at times. that's how real it was to me. loved all the pics too!

oh yes, I too love the Prado and Thyssen but I also love the Reina Sofia. there is a section of art having to do with the civil war that is very informative, albeit very hard to look at. and I'm a lover of Picasso so....but I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea and that's okay too. when I went back to Madrid in March, I skipped the Thyssen(we went to all three last May), went to the Prado during their free hours along with Reina Sofia if only just to look at Guernica again. this last trip there were many groups of kids on field trips and I stopped to listen to a couple of the teachers and learned a few more things about Guernica and another Picasso painting. that was a fun experience for me

anyway, just some thoughts on the art at the Reina Sofia. I love that Madrid has such great art. thanks for the link to the Thyssen online, I'm definitely going to check it out! I loved that museum too, just couldn't fit it in this last trip.

@tobyo : Thank you, if my report makes you feel as if you were there again, I can have no better compliment About Reina Sofia - I have read reports which said that if there was time for only one museum, they would choose the Reina Sofia so there are many people who, like you, enjoy that era of art. As an art lover, I can only be glad.

Picasso was commissioned to paint "something" for the Spanish stand at the Paris Universal exhibition in 1937. So, after many delays, he decided to send this painting he was working on, a bullfighting-related subject that was a re-working of an XVIII engraving. In the end he made some minor changes and titled the work "Guernica" after some bombing that had recently taken place in the Spanish civil war, and there you are.