Today I spent the afternoon in the world-renowned
Museo del Prado, home to many famous paintings spanning many centuries and many countries. And, suffice it to say, I am exhausted. The Prado is a big museum. Not Louvre big, but still quite large. Also, it is a far better museum than the Louvre. Everybody makes a huge deal about the Louvre, when really, it is just a ridiculously large building with about a 70:30 ratio of pointless stuff to good stuff*. I liked nearly all of the paintings I saw today (I skipped most of the religious-y ones, since 1: I'm not into the whole religion thing and 2: after a while they all look the same. There are only so many ways to paint Jesus--baby, adult, and dying adult.). I particularly liked the special exhibit on right now called The Hermitage in the Prado--a collection of masterpieces from the equally renowned Hermitage museum in St Petersburg, Russia. The paintings and sculptures from the Hermitage were really great, and so varied! I was surprised to see a Monet** painting in there with the usual portraits and still-life paintings. I am now hoping to maybe go to St Petersburg sometime to see what the rest of the Hermitage has to offer!
I will now conclude this post with some photos that I took of and around the museum:
Adios for now,
--Rachael
*The ratio of pointless stuff to good stuff may be even higher than 70:30, I just chose that arbitrarily. Sorry if you have been to the Louvre and this is not your opinion. Let's all just agree to respect each others opinions, even if they are different from our own. Also, let's try and spread this message to government bodies everywhere/generally to everyone we know. That way, something might actually get done in the world.
**Monet is my favourite artist (Impressionism is generally my favourite type of art, and I just happen to like Monet's paintings the best). This explains my excitement at seeing a Monet painting in the exhibit.
Also, sorry if my comment about religious-y paintings offends you in anyway. See first asterisk comment, the bit about respecting everyone's opinions.
