Rembrandt at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Friday March 6 will probably be the coldest day of our trip-- a high of only 11C.  However, there was sun and we layered up.  There will a warming trend for the rest of our visit.

I thought I'd show some pictures from our breakfast routine.  We usually have oatmeal, with some fresh fruit (a lot of strawberries here); a piece of toast with jam and, of course, coffee.  We brought our new travel toy--- a Nanopresso (don't worry we're promoting this on our own).  It is amazing.  One just adds boiling water to a separate compartment from the ground coffee (we're using some great Barcelona beans we bought in Málaga) and then pushes the pump until the coffee comes out.  Due to the pressure, we get an excellent crema.   Highly recommended for folks travelling.

Alano with the Nanopresso

Pumping the coffee

Excellent crema and a great espresso

We headed out late morning to go to the Mercado Berceló about a 10 minute walk away.

Lots of great buildings en route

Grafitti.

The market has two stories of great fish, meat, fruit and vegetable, bakery and other food stalls.
We checked the scene out and then did our food shopping for the next few days.

Our fish guy

Olives, nuts and chips

Getting fruit and vegetables-- one cannot touch

Bakery

As we exited the building, we noticed a coffee shop called Coffee Code.  Very good coffee.  The barista, who is Spanish, had lived for three years in Sydney, Australia.  We had a great coffee discussion.  Got a coffee card for another visit when we return to the market in a few days.  He has a great patio space just outside the market-- it hadn't been set up due to the cold.  

Coffee Code

Very friendly barista 

After lunch at the apartment, we headed out to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, one of our favourite museums.  It opened in 1992 and contains one of the world's foremost private art collections.  Acquired over two generations, the collection is directly linked Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1875-1947) and Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921-2002).   The Museum is located in the Palace of Villahermosa after the building's conversation into a museum by the architect Rafael Moneo.

We had a 20 minute walk to the Museum from the apartment, passing a number of large buildings on the Paseo de Recoletos, including City Hall and the Naval Museum.

Passing the Palacio de Cibeles -- City Hall

Entrance to the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

The first exhibit we saw was phenomenal: Rembrandt and Amsterdam Portraiture, 1590-1670.  The exhibit provided a broad survey of the portrait genre in Amsterdam during the 17th century, with a focus on Rembrandt (1606-1669).  There were works from other artists showing what portraits were like before Rembrandt moved from his native Leiden to Amsterdam, a city that offered greater market potential.  The innovations he adopted, which were continued by his followers, imitators, and rivals, and the evolution of his painting, and the turn taken by the genre of portraiture in the 1650s, are the subject of the exhibit.

Poster for the exhibit

The works by Rembrandt, his predecessors, contemporaries, rivals and the next generation were all spectacular.  A real golden age of portraiture.  We got the audio which was very good.

In the 17th century, Amsterdam was the wealthiest city in the Dutch Republic.  Portraits became a tool for the wealthy merchants to be remembered.  The huge demand for portraits prompted competition between painters and resulted in the high quality of their work

Cornelis Ketel (1548-1616), Portrait of a Lady 1594

Ketel, Portrait of a Man, 1594

Pieter Isaacsz (1568-1625), Family Portrait, 1603-1605

Frans Badens (1571-1618), Gerard Reynst, 1613-- Reynst was head of the East India Company.  A very powerful guy- one can tell from the picture.

Pieter Pietersz (1540/41-1603), Cornelis Schellinger, Poet, c. 1584

Cornelis van der Voort (1576-1624), Margaretha Vos, c. 1621
(beautiful dress, ruff and jewellery)

There were a number of portraits of men seated or standing around a table.  These portraits were often of upper middle class or the ruling elite who were governors of hospitals and other charitable institutions or the civil guard.

Cornelis van der Voort (1576-1624), The Governors of the Hospitals, 1617.  Senior members of the Board are seated and the other newer members are standing.

Jan Tengnagel (1584/85-1635), Banquet of the Civic Guardsmen from the Company of Captain Geurt Dircksz van Beuningen and Lieutenant Pierter Martensz Hoefijser, 1613

Thomas de Keyser (1596/97- 1667), Headman of the Amsterdam Gold and Siversmiths' Guild, 1626-27

Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy (1588-1650/1656), Portrait of a Woman, 1635

Rembrandt only started painting portraits after he had moved from Leiden to Amsterdam in 1631.  Following existing conventions, "he enlivened the likenesses of his sitters by focussing on their eyes and creating the illusion of movement".  The art dealer Hendrick Uylenburgh played a crucial role at the start of Rembrandt's career in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt, Portrait of the Young Gentleman, c. 1633-1634
The lace collar (new fashion following the ruff) was painted in white and then Rembrandt applied black brush stokes to make the pattern-- very innovative. 

Rembrandt, Portrait of a Woman, probably Johanna van Merwede van Clootwijk, 1632

Rembrandt, Portrait of a Man at a Writing Desk, 1631

Rembrandt, Bust of an Old Man in Fanciful Costume, 1635-- this portrait was lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Joachim van Sandrart (1606-1688) Alida Bicker, 1641 - lots of signs of a wealthy family

Joachim von Sandrart, Jacob Bicker, 1639

Dirck Santvoort (1610/11-1680), The Governesses and Wardresses of the Spinhuis, 1638 -- The Board of a home for wayward girls--- two women checking lace, and the front two women with a shopping list. 

Frans Hals (1582/83-1666)  Portrait of a Man, probably Pieter Jacobsz Nachtglas, c. 1634. (painting the new lace collar fashions)

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621-1674), Jan Pietersz van den Eeckhout, the Artist's Father, 1644

Van den Eeckhout, Cornelia Dedel, the Artist's Stepmother, 1644

Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), Young Man in a Feathered Cap, possibly a Self-Portrait 1647. (added colour to his paintings)

In the course of the 1640s, the market for portraits became dominated by artists other than Rembrandt, who hardly painted any portraits during this decade.  His wife Saskia died in 1642.
Among the most prominent portraitists were his former pubils Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol.  As an alternative to life-size portraits, small-scale pictures with scenes in which the protagonists play their part in indoor or outdoor settings became popular.

Rembrandt painted a number of self-portraits during this period.

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait Wearing a Hat and Two Chains, c. 1642-1643

Rembrandt, Portrait of a Man, probably Herman Auxbrebis, c. 1654-1655

Rembrandt, Portrait of a Woman, probably Maria van Sinnick, c. 1654-1655

Ferdinand Bol, Frederick Sluysken, 1652

When Rembrandt reappeared on the scene as a portrait painter in the early 1650s, the prevailing taste had changed.  Bartholomeus van der Helst, who painted in lighter tones, with a colourful palette and a smooth brush, had become the most sought-after portraitist in Amsterdam.  Sitters were now even allowed to smile (which hadn't been the fashion a few decades earlier).

Rembrandt did not adapt his style or his impasto brushwork but continued to work in his signature 'rough manner', producing some of his most impressive portraits.

Bartholomeus van der Helst (1603-1670), The Headmen of the Arquebus Civic Guard House, 1655. Wonderful picture with the oysters and oyster shell on the floor and Innkeeper and staff serving the meeting.  Man with red napkin was a son of the head of the East India Company, pictured earlier in the exhibit.  The audio said this would have been a commission that Rembrandt would have received earlier in his lifetime, but now younger painters were getting these commissions.

Rembrandt, Tito van Rijn, the Artist's Son, Reading, c. 1660-1665

Rembrandt, Portrait of a Young Man in a Black Beret, c. 1662

It was a superb exhibit.  The audio also noted that a number of the sitters had only recently been identified for this exhibit. All the portraits were of exceptional quality.  I immediately felt like designing a collection of black dresses (some with brocade and gold trim) with wonderful ruff or lace collars and cuffs.  The museum's gift shop had a wonderful t-shirt with a large lace collar design, but it had all sold out in smaller sizes.


We then went to see an exhibit by American artist Joan Jonas entitled Moving Off the Land II.  It was part of the TBA21 Foundation's contemporary art commissions.  Thyssen-Bornermisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) was established in Vienna in 2002 by the philanthropist and collector Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza, daughter-in-law of the late Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza.  The Foundation commissions works from leading contemporary artists.

The exhibit focused "on the role the ocean has played for cultures throughout history as a totemic, spiritual and ecological touchstone".  The Director of TBA-1 noted that "in times like today, when environmental injustice and social inequalities are becoming increasingly evident, it is fundamentally important to recognise the urgent need for constitutional rights of nature."





Joan Jonas (b. 1936, New York) is celebrated for her groundbreaking work in performance, installation and video since the 1960s.

Drawings

Incredible video

Another video

Jonas' dog Ozu playing in the surf at her summer home in Cape Breton- shot by marine biologist David Gruber, a collaborator, which forms part of this video.

Alano and painting

The last temporary exhibit we saw was by Chechu Álava entitled : Rebels.  The artist, born in Piedres Blanques (Asturias) in 1973 currently lives in Paris.  She has been working on this series of eminent women in the modern age for a decade.  They can all be considered rebels who went against the grain.  Her glowing portraits result from her painstaking work with glazes.  There was a stand-alone exhibit and then a number of her works were installed beside paintings in the Museum's permanent collection.

Poster for the Exhibit

Niña Frida, 2019

Marga Gil Roësset, 2019

Hannah Arendt, 2012

Sylvia Plath, 2011

Lee Miller with a Headache, 2013

Simone de Beauvoir, 2012

Tina Modotti and Frida Kahlo, 2010

We really enjoyed her work.  Then it was on to a brief walk-through of the permanent collection which spans the period dating from the late 13th century to the 1980s.  There were a lot of highlights.  I am only going to put a few pictures in the blog.

Caravaggio (1571-1610), Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1598-1599.  

Friedensreigh Hundertwasser (1928-2000), Sun and Moon, The Aztecs, 1966.  We had visited Hundertwasser House in Vienna a number of years ago.

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon.  Effect of Rain. 1897.  Ah, Paris.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Swaying Dancer (Dancer in Green), 1877-1879.  Fabulous colour.

Robert Delaunay (1885-1941), Portuguese Woman, 1916 - fabulous colour

Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), The Lady in Mauve, 1922

A brilliant juxtaposition of a Beckmann painting and one by Chechu Álava.

Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Quappi in Pink Jumper, 1932-34

Chechu Álava, Frida fumando en rosa, 2019.

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours), 1925. The title says it all.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Harlequin with a Mirror, 1923.  Started as a self-portrait but morphed into something greater.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011) painted Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921-2002) twice between 1981-1985.

Portrait of Baron H.H. Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1981-82

Man in a Chair (Portrait of Baron H.H. Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1985

The two portraits were displayed beside a Watteau (1684-1721) entitled Pierrot Content, c. 1712.

The commentary beside these three paintings says "Everything about the portrait (reference to the 1983 portrait of Thyssen) seems to speak of a powerful man with an imposing, striking presence, but can we not also glimpse an allusion to the nostalgic Pierrot of Watteau's painting?"

The Watteau painting with Pierrot in a similar pose!!

A wonderful afternoon spent at the Museum.  We then walked through Puerta del Sol (at the centre of Madrid) to get to Plaza Mayor.  We ran into a demonstration of teachers and students protesting the cutting of hours per week for studying a second language (hence all the French and Italian flags).  We talked to one of the teachers handing out pamphlets.  He said there used to be four hours a week for language study, that had been cut to two hours and now Madrid wanted to cut it to one hour, out of line with the rest of Europe.  The teacher also noted that they still wanted to keep two hours of religious study but only one hour a week for studying a second language.  We told him about the teachers' strikes in Ontario regarding class size and e-learning.

We always run into demonstrations during our travels

Quite a large demo in Puerta del Sol

We walked over to Plaza Mayor, once the centre of Old Madrid.  It was first built (1580-1619) during the reign of Philip III.  

Casa de la Panadería-- name originates from its original use as the city's main bakery.  Restored in 1880.

The square--restored after a massive fire in 1790.

We then headed across the street for churros and chocolate at Chocolatería San Ginés, which has been operating non-stop since it opened in 1894.

One sign for the chocolateria

Busy at 6:00 p.m.--- the Churro Hour

Pouring chocolate into the cups

Alano with the churros

Entrance to the inside- one pays and gets a ticket and then finds a seat and the waiter takes your ticket and fills your order

We then walked over to Mercado de San Miguel, a covered market originally built in 1916, then purchased by private investors in 2003, who renovated the iron structure and reopened it in 2009.  We had visited in 2015 and wanted to return.

Mercado de San Miguel- lit in the evening and packed

There are wonderful stalls with fabulous tapas, drinks, etc.  One can wander around with a drink and eat at different stalls.  The food is superb and the place was packed.  Alano and I shared a glass of vermouth and three tapas: anchovies with red peppers; a fabulous cod with honey and mustard, and an octopus Galician style.

The octopus

Cod (second from left) and anchovies with red peppers (far right)

Mozarella stall

All tuna

With our tapas

Definitely Hora de Vermut (Vermouth Hour)

Olives galore

Buzzy scene on a Friday night

We walked back to the apartment at around 8:00 p.m. and had a modest late dinner.  Cod with zucchini and tomatoes with a small salad, wine and a piece of chocolate.

Wonderful first full day in Madrid.