By Mike McDougall
Spain, with its myriad of influences and epic history, is acountry with a diverse gamut of sights and sounds to offer its45 million tourists who visit every year. An area where this canbe seen in particular is in its museums and galleries, a richhistory of art and culture has left Spain a huge legacy in thisdepartment with names such as Dali, Picasso and Miro leading thelist:
Guggenheim, Bilbao:
Now one of the most easily recognised buildings in Europe, theGuggenheim in Bilbao is a work of art itself. Opened in 1997 anddesigned by American architect Frank O. Gehry, the museum hasbeen a lynchpin for the city's redevelopment programme and inmany ways the museum symbolises the new, modern Bilbao. Standingright in the city centre alongside the river the museum offers11,000 sqm of exhibition space over three galleries. The museumhas a body of permanent work always on display as well as largeexhibitions which run for months at a time. Currently on View isthe "Aztec Empire" comprising of a huge body of work from thepre-columbian civilization. Previous exhibitions haveencompassed an eclectic blend of art with work from the likes ofMatisse, Michelangelo, Reubens and Warhol having graced itscorridors.
Dali Theatre-Museum, Figueres
Located in Figueres, the Dali Theatre-Museum is the broadestcollection of his work in the world tracing his first artisticforays, the surrealist period and even including some of thelast works painted before his death. Figueres also happens to beDali's hometown and the decision to build the museum from theruins of the town's Spanish civil war-damaged theatre, didn'tseem like a difficult one. Indeed, it was here as a boy whereDali first had the chance to display his work so is a fittingplace to exhibit the cream of his life's work. Dali himselfsupervised the building and creation of the museum turning itinto a huge surrealist playground. Dali also created some worksspecifically for the museum itself - the "Mae West Room", the"Wind Palace Room" and the "Monument to Francesc Pujols and theRainy Cadillac" are larger than life and superb examples ofDali's fertile imagination.
Reina Sofia, Madrid
One of Madrid's most celebrated museums, the Reina Sofia housesa huge collection of contemporary art. Once the city's SanCarlos hospital, the museum was originally founded in 1986 butunderwent a serious revamp in 1990 at the hands of Britisharchitect, Ian Ritchie. They envisioned creating something torival the Tate in London and the Pompidou centre in Paris, and,with 36,000 sqm of exhibition space, it's one of the world'slargest museums and an extremely impressive place. The mostfamous painting housed there is undoubtedly Picasso's Guernica,an immense cubist work and war protest and probably the greatpainter's most famous work. Visitors can also see the manypreliminary sketches that he made for the work. Other greatSpanish artists on display are Dali, Miro and Orteiz to name buta few as well as Spain's most important artists of the last 20years.
Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona
One of Spain's most important artists and often overlooked dueto the lure of Picasso and Dali, the Fundacio Joan Miro in theMontjuic area of Barcelona is well worth a visit. Spacious andset in its own grounds, the museum is a step away from theregular metropolitan museums and galleries - the white buildingbuilt around an internal courtyard is typically Mediterranean.Huge amounts of natural light help to bring Miro's surrealistworks to life and the museum also houses some of his sculpturesand ceramic works as well as the paintings he's more famous for.The museum also has a permanent exhibition space in which thefoundation gives special attention to Spain's more experimentalartists - not everyone's cup of tea, granted, but worth a lookif you're visiting the museum.
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