The Spanish region of Andalucía has seen its visitor numbers from Britain drop by 18% online forex in the first quarter of 2009. The results were announced at the recent ‘Loving Andalucía British Tourist Trade Forum’ which took place in Malaga and North Cyprus with Villas in Florida.

The Spanish Tourist Rent Cheap Florida Villas Board confirmed that Andalucía, the second largest region in Spain with teen french summer camps, had welcomed 428,521 Brits in the first quarter, which is a larger decrease than that experienced throughout the rest of Spain (Abu Dhabi Hotels) – which welcomed a total of 15.7 million visitors in 2008. The decrease also affected designer swimwear industry, the number are not shown yet.

The decrease in the number of British tourists choosing to take stag weekends in Spain can be linked to the poor performance of the pound against the Euro, which has left many holidaymakers with the opinion that the destination is too expensive. UK package holidays to Spain have subsequently fallen by 11%.

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AS a nucleus of the electronic music scene, Ibiza attracts party people of every age and demographic, from London fashionistas and Goa-style ravers to French bobos and the prime minister of Spain. But after Oct. 1, when Ibiza’s club season comes to a euphoric finale, this Spanish island eases back into its Mediterranean groove. Whether it’s hibernating in yoga retreats, trekking through Unesco World Heritage sites or lounging by turquoise blue water and white-sand beaches, Ibiza offers plenty of laid-back after-party spots where you can see beautifaul women in black strapless dresses, casual sheath dresses and of course full length sun dresses . Plus, there are phenomenal seafood and glamorous hippies. And if the itch to party should strike, don’t worry, the island’s original party palace is open year round.

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Some clichés hold true. Spain, stretching sun-drenched and untamed to the south of the wild and majestic Pyrenees, is a passionate nation littered with glittering beaches where beach lovers soak up pitchers of sangria over steaming paella (at its tasty best in Valencia).

Flamenco bailaors (dancers) stamp and swirl in flounces of colour, while toreros flaunt their bravado in the bullrings. Scratch this surface and a vast, unexpected panorama unfolds before you. It is extraordinary what splendours remain off the beaten track: the green hills and ocean coves of the north; proud, solitary castles and medieval towns, like Toledo, across the interior; the white villages of Andalucía; and mountain ranges such as the Gredos and Sierra Nevada (Europe’s southernmost ski resort).

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Goya: Political Rebel
Goya — Nude Maja (La Maja Desnuda) and Clothed Maja (La Maja Vestida)

Goya remained at court because of his talent, not his political beliefs. or his morals. Rumor flew that he was fooling around with the beautiful, intelligent, and vivacious Duchess of Alba. Even more scandalous was a painting, supposedly of the Duchess in a less-than-devoutly-Catholic pose.

A maja was a hip working-class girl. Many of Goya’s early tapestries show royalty dressed in the garb of these colorful commoners. Here the Duchess has undressed as one.

The Nude Maja was a real shocker. Spanish kings enjoyed the sensual nudes of Titian and Rubens, but it was unheard of for a pious Spaniard to actually paint one. Goya incurred the wrath of the Inquisition, the Catholic court system that tried heretics and sinners. Tour guides explain that the painting caused such a stir that Goya dashed off another version with her clothes on. The quick brushwork is sloppier, perhaps because Goya was in a hurry, or because he was anxious to invent Impressionism. The two paintings may have been displayed in a double frame — the nude could be covered by sliding the clothed maja over it to hide it from Inquisitive minds that wanted to know.

Artistically, the nude is less a portrait than an idealized nude in the tradition (and reclining pose) of Titian’s Venus and the Organ Player. The pale body is highlighted by the cool green sheets, à la Titian, as well. Both paintings were locked away in obscurity, along with the Titians and Rubenses, until 1901.

* Return down the stairs. In Room 39, next to the stairs, you’ll find…

Goya — 2nd of May, 1808 and 3rd of May, 1808

Goya became a political radical, a believer in democracy in a world of kings. During his time, the American and French Revolutions put the fear of God in the medieval minds of Europe’s aristocracy. In retaliation, members of the aristocracy were determined to stamp out any trace of political liberalism.

Goya admired the French leader Napoleon, who fought for the democratic ideals of the French Revolution against the kings of Europe. But then Napoleon invaded Spain (1808), and Goya saw war firsthand. What he saw was not a heroic war liberating the Spaniards from the feudal yoke, but an oppressive, brutal, senseless war in which common Spaniards were the first to die.

The 2nd of May, 1808 and 3rd of May, 1808 show two bloody days of the war. On May 2, the common citizens of Madrid rebelled against the French invaders. With sticks, stones, and kitchen knives, they rallied in protest at Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s main square. The French sent in their fearsome Egyptian mercenary troops to quell the riot. Goya captures the hysterical tangle of bodies as the Egyptians wade through the dense crowd hacking away at the overmatched Madrilenos who have nowhere to run.

The next day the French began reprisals. They took suspected rebels to a nearby hill and began mercilessly executing them. The 3rd of May, 1808 is supposedly a tribute to those brave Spaniards who rebelled against the French, but it’s far from heroic. In fact, it’s anti-heroic, showing us the irrationality of war — an assembly line of death, with each victim toppling into a crumpled heap. They plea for mercy and get none. Those awaiting death bury their faces in their hands, unable to look at their falling companions. The central victim in luminous white spreads his arms Christ-like and asks, “Why are you doing this to us?”

Goya goes beyond sympathy for the victims. In this war, even the executioners are pawns in the game, only following orders without understanding why. The colorless firing squad, with guns perfectly level and feet perfectly in step, is a faceless machine of murder, cutting people down with all the compassion of a lawnmower. They bury their faces in their guns as though they, too, are unable to look their victims in the eye. This war is horrible, and what’s worse, the horror is pointless.

The violence is painted with equally violent techniques. There’s a strong prison-yard floodlight thrown on the main victim, focusing all our attention on his look of puzzled horror. The distorted features, the puddle of blood, the twisting bodies, the thick brushwork — all are features of the Romantic style that emphasized emotion over beauty. It all adds up to a vivid portrayal of the brutality of war. Like the victims, we ask, “How can one human being do this to another?”

Goya was disillusioned by the invasion led by his hero Napoleon. Added to this he began to go deaf. His wife died. To top it off, he was exiled as a political radical. Goya retreated from court life to his own private, quiet — and dark — world.

* To find the dark paintings, silently flagellate yourself, then go to Room 38.

Goya: Dark Stage

In 1819, Goya — deaf, widowed, and exiled — moved into a villa and began decorating it with his own oil paintings. The works were painted right on the walls of rooms in the villa, later transferred here.

You immediately see why these are the Dark Paintings — both in color and mood. They’re nightmarish scenes, scary and surreal, the inner visions of an embittered man smeared onto the walls as though finger-painted in blood.
Goya — The Witches’ Sabbath (El Aquelarre)

Dark forces convened continually in Goya’s dining room. This dark coven of crones swirls in a frenzy of black magic around a dark, Satanic goat in monk’s clothes who presides, priest-like, over the obscene rituals. The main witch, seated in front of the goat, is the very image of wild-eyed adoration, lust, and fear. (Notice the one noble lady sitting just to the right of center with her hands folded primly in her lap — “I thought this was a Tupperware party.”)
Goya — Saturn Devouring One of His Sons (Saturno)

Fearful that his sons would overthrow him as king of the gods, the Roman god Saturn ate them. Saturn was also known as Cronus, or Time, and this may be an allegory of how Time devours us all. Goya was a dying man in a dying, feudal world. The destructiveness of time is shown in all its horror by a man unafraid of the darker side.

* In Room 36…

Goya — Battle to the Death (Duelo a Garrotazos)

Two giants buried up to their knees, face to face, flail at each other with clubs. Neither can move, neither can run, neither dares rest or the other will finish him off. It’s a standoff between superpowers caught in a never-ending cycle of war. Can a truce be reached? It looks bleak. Is this really by the same artist who did the frilly Blind Man’s Bluff?

The Dark Paintings foreshadow 20th-century Surrealism with their dream images, and Expressionism with their thick smeared style and cynical outlook.

* And on that cheery note, we end our Prado tour.

Counter-Reformation Art: Fighting Back With Brushes (1600s)

Europe was torn in two by the Protestant Reformation. For 100 years, Catholics and Protestants bashed Bibles in what has been called the first “world war.” The Catholic Church also waged a propaganda campaign (the Counter-Reformation) to bolster the faith of the confused, weary masses. Art was part of that campaign. Pretty pictures brought abstract doctrines to the level of the common man.
Cano — St. Bernard and the Virgin (San Bernardo y la Virgen)

Here’s a heavenly vision brought right down to earth. St. Bernard is literally enjoying the “milk of paradise,” a vision he had of being suckled on the heavenly teat of Mary. When God’s word was portrayed in this realistic way, the common folk lapped it up.

* In Room 18a…

Zurbarán — St. Peter Crucified Appearing to Peter Nolasco (Aparición de San Pedro a San Pedro Nolasco)

Zurbarán is like a bitter jolt of café solo. In Spain, miracles are real. When legends tell of a saint who was beheaded but didn’t die, that isn’t an allegory on eternal life to the Spanish — they picture a real man walking around with his head under his arm.

So, when Zurbarán paints a mystical vision, he gives it to us in photographic realism. Bam, there’s the Apostle Peter crucified upside down right in front of us. Nolasco looks as shocked as we are at the reality of the vision. This is “People’s Art” of the Counter-Reformation, religious art for the masses. (Zurbarán has the sort of literal-minded religion that makes people wonder things like, “When the Rapture comes, what if I’m sitting on the toilet?”)

* Return to the long gallery. Within the gallery, in section 28 (roughly between the lozenge-shaped room and the far end of the gallery), look for…

Murillo — The Immaculate Conception (La Inmaculada “de El Escorial”)

For centuries, the No. 1 deity in the Christian “pantheon” was the goddess Mary. This painting is a religious treatise, explaining a Catholic doctrine that many found difficult to comprehend. The Immaculate Conception of Mary meant that, though all humans are stained by the original sin of Adam, the mother of Jesus was conceived and born pure.

The Spanish have always loved the Virgin. She’s practically a cult figure. Common people pray directly to her for help in troubled times. Murillo (pron: mur-REE-oh) painted a beautiful, floating, and Ivory-Soap-pure woman — the most “immaculate” virgin imaginable — radiating youth and wholesome goodness.

* Go to far end of gallery and enter the round room (#32).

Goya (1746-1828)

Francisco de Goya, a true individual in both his life and his painting style, is hard to pigeonhole, his personality and talents were so varied. We’ll see several different facets of this rough-cut man — cheery apprentice painter, loyal court painter, political rebel, scandal-maker, disillusioned genius. His work runs the gamut, from pretty Rococo to political rabble-rousing to Romantic nightmares.

For convenience, let’s divide Goya’s life into three stages: the Court Painter (including his early years), Political Rebel, and Dark Stage.
Goya: Court Painter
Goya — The Family of Charles IV (La Familia de Carlos IV)

They’re decked out in all their finest, wearing every medal, jewel, and ribbon they could find for this impressive group portrait. Goya, the budding political liberal, captures all the splendor of the court in 1800, but with a brutal twist of reality. King Charles, with his ridiculous hairdo and silly smile, is portrayed for what he was — a vacuous, good-natured fool, a henpecked husband controlled by a domineering queen. She, the true center of the composition, is proud and defiant. The queen was vain about the supposed beauty of her long, swan-like neck, and here she stretches to display every centimeter of it. The other adults, with their bland faces, are bug-eyed with stupidity. Catch the crone looking out at us bird-like, fourth from left. The look in their eyes seems to say “I can’t wait to get this monkey-suit off.” (I picture Goya deliberately taking his own sweet time making them stand and smile for hours on end.) Underneath the royal trappings, Goya shows us the inner personality — or lack thereof — of these shallow monarchs.

As a tribute to Velázquez’ Maids of Honor, Goya painted himself painting the scene at far left. But here Goya stands back in the shadows looking with disdain on the group. Only the children escape Goya’s critical eye, painted with the sympathy he always showed to those lower on the social ladder.

* Let’s look at Goya’s early years. Facing the above painting, exit the round room to the left, then turn right down the hall. Go up the stairs to Rooms 90-94.

Goya’s Early Years

Born in a small town, Goya, unlike Velázquez, was a far cry from a precocious painter destined for success. In his youth he dabbled as a matador, kicking around Spain before finally landing a job in the Royal Tapestry. The canvases in these rooms were designs made into tapestries bound for the walls of nobles’ palaces.

Browse through these rooms and watch lords and ladies of the 1700s with nothing better to do than play — toasting each other at a picnic, dancing with castanets, flying kites, playing paddleball, listening to a blind guitarist, walking on stilts, or playing Blind Man’s Bluff (in Room 93).

In Room 94, a more serious side of Goya’s emerges. His Two Cats Fighting (Gatos Riñendo) represents the two warring halves of a human soul, the dark and light sides, anger and fear locked in immortal combat, fighting for dominance of a man’s life. We’re entering the Age of Romanticism.

Notice — how do I say this? — how BAD the drawing is in some of these canvases, especially the early ones. However, in the few short years he worked in the tapestry department, Goya the inexperienced apprentice slowly developed into a good, if not great, draftsman. The Parasol (El Quitasol, in Room 85) was one of his first really good paintings, with a simple composition and subtle shadings of light. Goya worked steadily for the court for 25 years, dutifully cranking out portraits before finally becoming First Court Painter at age 53.

* Head to Room 89 (also on second floor).