I got in at 2am this morning after a long journey from Madrid to Liverpool and then from Liverpool home. It didn't help with the group of 13 year old lads on the back of the plane trying to outdo each other with ridiculous jokes and general immaturity.
My initial reasoning for branching out of the Manchester area to look at art was to see Guernica first hand after deciding to base my dissertation around it. It was in the Sofia museum in central Madrid (we managed to bag ourselves free entrance with being pauper students!) and about 2 minutes walk from our hotel due to Philippa's handiwork.
Unfortunately, we were unable to take any of our own photographs and weren't allowed within 6 foot of it and was guarded by two security men. We were filled with anticipation, was it round the next corner, was it round the next... but when I eventually saw it, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Maybe it was all the Japanese tourists in front of us that blocked my view but it didn't have the impact I was expecting.
Sure, it's big(ish). But I expected it being much bigger. I anticipated more grandeur, more oomph more zest. I suppose I got some relatively good notes on details which are not apparent in images available online or even in some books. But I was unable to get any hard literature to aid my dissertation writing as it was all in Spanish or German. Please take note Sofia Library - we require more books on Guernica, in English please!
After walking the streets of Madrid for hours, we were still unable to find anything on Guernica in English. Looks like trusty Amazon will have to do. So after all the anticipation and hype over going to see what could be argued as one of the most famous pieces of art in the world, I was bitterly disappointed. No photographs, no literature. I could have got as much information from Wikipedia.
Rant over, this is not my photograph, if only.
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