Recent art exhibit outings in Madrid

In the past couple weeks we've gone out with greater frequency with the primary motivation of catching some temporary exhibits before they left the city, and along the way we've found some decent culinary spots too.

We saw a Picasso exhibit at the Reina Sofia, which included 5 times the number of Picasso works that normally grace the museum, on the last day before it was shipped back to the Musée Picasso in Paris. (Also, I recently read that the museum will be changing the installation space for Guernica in a good way, and I hope it gets completed soon. Since last year was a major anniversary of the painting, we saw tributes throughout Madrid and País Vasco, including a documentary about all the trouble the cuadro went through before it was finally restored to Spain.)

Then we went to the "Noche de museos" for free midnight entrance to the Modigliani exhibit at the Thyssen. The visit continued at the always-free Caja Madrid exhibition space. We saw some really great Modigliani portraits--with their signature elongation and soft brushstrokes--and plenty of other works by his contemporaries. I'm confident I would have been perfect for Paris in the 1910's.

Finally, just yesterday we caught the Alphonse Mucha exhibit at the newly inaugurated CaixaForum in Madrid. A Czech Art Nouveau artist, Mucha was well known for his gorgeous posters advertising everything from Sarah Bernhardt to bicycles to cigarette rolling paper, but it was also interesting to see his studies for non-commercial works.

Three places we've eaten out at and enjoyed recently have been Manuelas, with their turn-of-the-century columns and molding (and board games), Home Burger Bar, with delicious organic burgers (make a reservation or just get take-out), and La Sueca, a Swedish lounge with lots of salmon (surprise).

One thing's for sure: these three artists had very distinct ways of depicting women in their art. Just take a look at these three examples (all of which I like very much).