Miscellany: Take That, Guernica!

The city of Madrid has a huge variety of art museums, ranging from the internationally-renowned Museo del Prado (which features works from heavy hitters like Goya, Velázquez, and El Greco) to smaller museums scattered around the city. My personal favorite, however, is the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, commonly called the "Reina Sofia." You can find it in the south of Madrid's arts district, and its entrance is flanked by neat glass elevator towers.

Inside is a collection of art ranging from the late 19th century to the present day. Best represented here is Pablo Picasso, the founder of Cubism. When I visited the Reina Sofia, they not only had their permanent collection on display, but also hundreds of additional works by Picasso, on loan from the Picasso Museum in Paris.

The best-known work currently held by the Reina Sofia, though, is Guernica. It is an imposing painting (nearly 12 ft tall and twice as wide), and the studies and preliminary works that precede it show how much thought went into the piece. It's been vandalized before, but never quite like this: