Knowing a city also implies letting yourself be seduced by emotions and embarking, from their hand, on alternative experiences, where tradition puts the senses in check and encourages you to visit certain places, with another perspective.
That is why today I want to invite you to know a very special place in Madrid, from points of view briefly based on the literal world of the senses, where Art and apparently supernatural situations close ties, inviting us to speculate with the sensations.
To do this, nothing better than meeting us a short distance from this Atocha station, where according to the singer Joaquín Sabina, everyone who comes to Madrid at some point gets off there and passes by 'El Brillante', one of the traditional establishments, reputed to make the best squid sandwiches in the city.
Behind him, overshadowing the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, an old building, a survivor of that dark era that inherited much of the dark Spanish Black Legend of previous centuries, it seems less sinister than it really is, patched up in its icy façade with newly created elements that make it apparently more attractive.
This becomes much more evident, if we contemplate the modern facilities added to this building in 2005 at the beginning of the Ronda de Atocha and known as the Nouvel Building, in whose courtyard there are also places of leisure and restaurants, which they give it an unusual note of color and joy.
Now, the original neoclassical building, raised in the 18th century by the architect José de Hermosilla, continued by the internationally renowned Italian, Francesco Sabatini and turned into the famous General Hospital of Madrid, rose to world fame in the early 1990s of the last century, when it became a delight for parapsychologists and ghost hunters –in Madrid, we already had notable antecedents, for example, with the Palacio de Linares and the ghost of the girl Raimunda- when the news broke that so many workers The cleaning staff, as sworn guards, were truly appalled by the presence of visions and apparitions, as well as strange flaws in the lighting of the rooms that, believe it or not, were on the verge of causing strikes.
And having seen the old facilities, including that cloister, which sometimes offers the sensation of being a portal to the Hereafter, I assure you that there may come a time when the mind, which after all is a good example of the metaphor of the Cave proposed by Plato, where it could be said that the world of the idea in turn generates the world of form, can generate unexpected surprises.
Having said these antecedents and continuing with the world of sensations, the truth is that the Reina Sofía National Art Museum houses one of the most impressive plastic collections in Spain, whose viewing, I assure you, deserves a long and prolonged visit.
Not only will they have the opportunity to contemplate one of the most brilliant, admired and possibly least understood works of Pablo Picasso, such as his extraordinary 'Guernica' - which, by the way, is the only painting in his exhibitions, which is not allowed to be photographed - but In addition, they will be able to find interesting works by renowned authors, such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy, René Magritte, Sorolla and others, possibly less known, such as Rosario de Velasco and Ángeles Santos, to name two extraordinary artists, the viewing of whose works It will surely impress you enough to let your imagination run wild with a thousand and one hypothetical suggestions.
Regardless of the artistic tastes of each one, I would recommend that you pay attention during this visit, which I hope has left a pleasant taste in your mouth, even from its darkest side, to the first works of a Dalí, in the that two circumstances stand out that are worth noting: the fascination that his sister Ana María produced him and the portrait of that authentic thunderclap dressed as an Aragonese Nazarene, who was the controversial surrealist film director, Luis Buñuel.
And if we talk about Surrealism, I do not doubt that they are possibly attracted, in addition, by a remarkable photograph of the great Man Ray - pseudonym of Emmanuel Radnitzky - that entitled 'Las Lágrimas', not only gave rise to the lurid scene of the knife of the super surrealist film by Luis Buñuel entitled 'An Andalusian Dog', but it may be useful when awakening their photographic illusions, especially if they have their sights set on that fabulous world of monochrome prints, which is and will continue to be , Black and White photography.
In short, a walk through the culture and legend of a city, Madrid, where I miss it, believe me, it would be not enjoying, even with the most rugged and disconcerting.
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