Until the 19^th of February 2012, MAPFRE Foundation will exhibit a retrospective of the photographer Gotthard Schuh. The exhibition presented at the newly remodeled Azca showroom is organized with the collaboration of Fotostiftung Schweiz, owner of the photographs.

The director of Fotostiftung Schweiz, Peter Pfunder, curates the exhibition. Among the 113 photographs that make up the sample, 93 belong to Gotthard Schuh. These photos were taken between 1929 and 1956. Werner Bischof, Robert Frank, René Groebli and Jakob Tuggener, all of them, members of the distinguished Swiss Kollegium of photographers in the 50s, took the other twenty photographs.

Although his parents were Swiss, Gotthard Schuh was born in Berlin in 1879. His main contribution to the art world was the creation of poetic realism that revolutionized photography and European photographers in the twentieth century. He started his career as a painter, but in 1930 he interrupted his promising career to devote himself to his passion for photo images.

Schuh was actively involved in the aesthetic changes that occur during the late twenties in the photograph. Like many other great photographers, he found in the photojournalism the opportunity to carry out his experiences in the field of imaging. It is in this area, where speed and charm of reality produce a multiplicity of situations captured with the camera, which together produce great and interesting works. He worked as a photographer for prestigious publications like Paris Match, Life, Berlin Illustrite, among others.

Paris attracted him, because the city matched his hectic life. He worked with the lights and shadows of the city, while capturing with his camera, everything what the common eye misses, developing what is called poetic realism, which is related to capture the subjectivity implicit in a situation to display bare emotions and the psychology of the characters and the density of the environments in a single image.

In 1941 he was appointed photo editor of the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. This opened him a window, both to his work, as well as to other emerging photographers internationally known as Robert Frank or the Hungarian Gyula Halász, better known as Brassaï. From that moment, his works began to be structured in more complex ways, giving life to his book Islands of the Gods, which was published on his 11 months touring Bali, Singapore, Sumatra and Java.

His constant struggle to give the photography a prominent place among other arts, led him to participate in the formation of the Kollegium Schweizerischer Photographen, through he sought to position the photography as a proper expression of arts, since it works primarily in aesthetics, requires a long creative process and creates a tension in the viewer. Many photographers enrolled in the Kollegium, including a host of top Swiss photographers who accompany Schuh’s work in this retrospective of his work, for  the first time presented in Spain.

For more information: http://www.exposicionesmapfrearte.com/schuh/

Nancy Guzman

It’s a wonderful time of year to rent apartments in Madrid make up your mind and take those vacations that you deserve!

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Translated by: Hans
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Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was one of the leading figures of the Romanticism, revolutionary artist, innovator of classical and neoclassical style, which led him to earn harsh criticism at the beginning of his career, is without doubt one of the greatest French painters of the early twentieth century and of all time.

Delacroix was a so important artist that he was the first painter of the century, who challenged the strict rules of neoclassical art, inspiring painters such as Van Gogh. Delacroix was therefore a founding artist of style, and a great influence for the Impressionists. He was initially classified as neoclassical, although later he was recognized as the founder of the Romantic Movement, which took place in the first 30 years of the twentieth century. Two of his most famous works are: “Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi” painting that is part of the permanent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bordeaux, and the “Women of Algiers in their apartment” which is part of the Louvre Museum, these two works are featured in the exhibition you can visit from the 23rd of October in Madrid CaixaForum. Besides these pictures, there are about 100 works by the painter, which also includes lithographs and his famous paintings done in North Africa.

The exhibition is part of a collaboration agreement between “la Caixa” and the Louvre Museum, the largest ever conducted in Spain so far, it exposes almost all of the artist’s work with some lectures and specialized guides. If your next destination is Madrid, do not miss it, as it will be on display until the 15^th of January, so you have plenty of time to get to know the work of this great French artist.

For more information visit: http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforummadrid/eugenedelacroix_es.html

Luz Obscura

Spending your holidays this year in Madrid, is an excellent idea, considering that you can visit the CaixaForum and get to know all the work of Delacroix. Rent apartments in Madrid and enjoy the city like you’re in your own home.

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Translated by: Hans
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December is a month for a family trip and Madrid is the ideal place to stroll around looking at the beautiful decorated windows and lights of the city that are multiplied. So if you’ve made your decision, here we will make recommendations on how to make this trip a fun and unforgettable adding of great moments.

To start a true urban adventure, the Plaza Mayor is the ideal place, because that is the heart of Madrid and the origin of its history, so the guys will be glad to know  if you tell them that it  was the epicenter of the time of the Inquisition, when any disobedience to authority was a matter of accusation of witchcraft, therefore, subjected to punishment. their curiosity will be satisfied knowing that the surrounding buildings were built in the eighteenth century.

The churros, chocolate and Madrid are one single thing, so you can not refuse to take them to the famous San Ginés chocolate factory, located in the gallery that bears this name, in the center. Here they can enjoy the thick chocolate drippings of  these wonderful culinary creations.

To add excitement the children have the Madrid Amusement Park located in the Casa de Campo. There fantasy lives the with more daring rides. For that there are five areas full of interesting diversions: Grand Avenue, the area of ​​nature, the machine zone, a children’s area and the space of Tranquility. With your children can enjoy the dazzling roller coaster, the flying chairs and the  classic carousel dating from 1929. For the smaller ones there are the mini pirate ship or the mini shuttle as well as other fun mini games. Buying tickets online will get you a small discount which is not bad in these times of crisis

A place that has thought of everything to give you privileged attention over lunch or dinner, is the family restaurant. Here adults and children enjoy eating what they like best. For children there is a special menu that has a bit of everything: pasta, chicken, French fries, croquettes, etc.., While adults eat gourmet Mediterranean specialties. Parents can have dinner and rest from a tiring day as  kids can retreat to the playground where there are play stations, pool balls, stories and entertainers that will keep them entertained. It also has a lactation room and toilets for the children. This wonderful place  is located in the Plaza de las Encinas 10 /11 and do not worry about the prices, because they are adapted to a normal pocket.

If kids are old enough to ride a bicycle, one of the best ways to visit the city is to take a city tour that takes them to see the major milestones of the city  in a safe and fun way. For that there are several companies that provide this services, including BravoBike, which can take you by the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum, the  Plaza Cibeles, Puerta del Sol, Puerta de Alcalá, among other many  wonders of the city.

Nancy Guzman

Do not delay renting apartments in Madrid fun is waiting in this wonderful city that is elegantly dressed up in December.

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Translated by: Marc
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The Sorolla Museum, which is located in Madrid, presents an exhibition where they show the influence that Granada had on the work of Joaquín Sorolla. At the exhibition you’ll be able to enjoy 24 paintings that the artist from Valencia made of this particular city and the Alhambra, although they’ll also present the original letters that he sent and received from his wife and friends that he had in the region.

Joaquín Sorolla went to Granada on four occasions. Firstly in 1902, then in 1909 and, finally in 1917. Despite that in 1902 he was in the city for a brief period, he totally fell in love with it and it left a big mark in his interior. For that reason he decided to go back the other times to be able to capture the place in his work. In total he ended up painting 50 of them which had the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada as main protagonists. Out of those 50, the Sorolla Museum possesses 24.

But the city didn’t only leave a print in his interior and heavily influenced his art, but it also influenced his everyday life. It did in such a way that one of the gardens that Sorolla designed and that ended up surrounding his home was inspired in the Generalife. He himself decided to buy the myrtle for his hedges (some of them are still there today).

More information: http://museosorolla.mcu.es/exposiciones_temporales.html

Museo Sorolla: General Martínez Campos 37, 28010, Madrid

MiLK

All of these reasons give us an indication of how important the city was for Joaquín Sorolla. Those who want to enjoy the exhibition and see not only the 24 works of art but also the letters and other works at the Sorolla Museum, all they have to do is rent apartments in Madrid and, also, get to know one of the most beautiful cities in the world with a large quantity of places to see, like museums, different interesting activities and one of the best nightlifes in Europe, where you’ll be able to have a great time.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Without doubt, the return to musical activity of Noel Gallagher, who will offer his only concert on Spanish soil on the upcoming 26th of November in La Riviera in Madrid (http://www.salariviera.com/), together with the High Flying Birds, formed ex profeso for the occasion, could well be presented as one of the most highly awaited musical events of the year. But the question is, especially taking into account the crushing failure of Beady Eye, the band of his brother Liam, in the charts, that is there anyone who really expects anything of any substance today from the old leaders of the 90s superband Oasis.

Naturally, at least on the basis of his statements, so sadly predictable and unsubstantial, nobody could ever convince Noel Gallagher that he’s not one of the five or ten best songwriters of all time, and that the importance of Oasis could also be comparable to that one of The Beatles. But the truth is that, just as he explained in his first interview after two years of silence being away from the studios and the stages, people have stopped listening to his music. Noel thinks that the only reason for it is to attribute it to the fact that when someone acquires such great fame like Oasis did, the importance of the band in question is sociological, iconic, legendary even, so that the interest was in seeing them and listening to them, in having their albums and going to their concerts, and not in putting detailed attention into their work.

Basing himself on this argument, and despite the infused fears by the already mentioned catastrophe of Liam’s personal adventure, he relies and hopes that the public will now listen to his songs again, all of which seem so fabulous to him that he’s decided to go back to work releasing two albums in practically one go (it’s not important what can be said about him, because the fact that Noel has always been an amazingly prolific creator is undeniable).

What’s true is that, however, Oasis never were a band to listen carefully, but more of a band with catchy songs, all of which sounded like something already known, to sing along with friends in a bar in an advance drunken phase of the night on a weekend, and they had the luck or the bad luck to be used by the crushing media machine of Tony Blair’s New Labour to create a tailored sophisticated image of his very own Cool Britannia, turning the stimulating and incipient phenomenon of Brit Pop, lead by such brilliant bands like Suede, Pulp or Blur, into a parody of itself with great market projection.

Despite that Noel wrote the songs, it’s not easy to deny that the wild personality of the rebellious and incontrolable Liam was were the immense magnetism of the band resided, which means that Noel, taking into account his huge megalomania, is facing what’s probably the biggest challenge in his career.

Paul Oilzum

Check out for yourself if Noel, who has already shown his discontent for having to abandon the world of stadium concerts, will be up to the challenge when you rent apartments in Madrid on those dates.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Despite the classicist will of its first breath, San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, has passed into history of contemporary art as the place where Dali, who was rumored long ago of having tried to attack with a bomb against king Alfonso XIII right there, taking advantage of an official visit, he burned all his ships of the guaranteed future of civil service, forced to live solely from his art, in the morning that discredited the Court to be considered for judging about Rafael, knowing infinitely less than the divine painter of Urbino, absolutely incompetent to rate him on the subject.

Aside from its formidable architecture and tasty, foundational story of one of the great myths of the past century, San Fernando academy (http://rabasf.insde.es/) houses one of the most extraordinary art collections that can be seen in Madrid, which given the stunning painting offer regarding the capital of Spain is far from being an honor to be negligible.

Among its outstanding collection of paintings and sculptures from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries did not detract from the interesting thing about its careful and extensive selection of paintings and prints by Goya, some of which, namely the Caprichos and Disparates, have served to open a series of exhibitions (until the 13^th of November the first) which objective is to contrast the work of a living artist with some masterpieces of past centuries.

The artist chosen to begin this exciting initiative has been the veteran Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer, famous both for his interest in the art done by the mentally ill and, particularly, for his overpaintings, which is the act of painting reproductions of works over artists that one admires passionately (Redon, Friedrich …) perhaps as a way of paying tribute or a way to merge in a fit of passion with them. His inclination to work on other things may perhaps be traced to his obsession with youth by death, which led him to acquire the soothing death masks of, among others, Swift, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt their pictures were painted with extraordinary violence (so that employees cleaning the room of the Venice Biennale where he exhibited for the first time thought they had been victims of vandalism) and the escape from the hobby of photography and painting for years convulsively to his face in a series of numerous and varied gestures.

It has been precisely his fascination with the physiognomy of the faces painted by Goya, which has more than twenty years photographing different picture books and then paint over them, the main engine of the works exhibited at the Academy, though lately his palette has shifted toward more vibrant and warm colors, the black (perhaps understood not as the color that is not but as a value, a no man’s land) is where Rainer claims to have lived secretly and often the dominant impression in his work.

Paul Oilzum

If you are unfamiliar with it, come and get to know it at San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, when renting apartments in Madrid And if you are a Rainer’s fan, come and let the impressive expressive value of his always stimulating work.

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Translated by: Hans
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Yves Saint Laurent is one of the most important worldwide fashion designers and his brand, an icon of the avant-garde, YSL has locations in every corner of the planet and women go crazy for the high couture garments he fabricates . This time the MAPFRE Foundation, along with the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, will have a presentation on the 6th of October until to January 8th, 2012 which is the first retrospective ever of this artist that will be exhibited in Spain.

This sample was enjoyed  during 2010 at the Petit Palais in Paris with a vast success of public and professionals . That is why the MAPFRE Foundation has decided to move the presentation to Spain.

You will able to enjoy the 42 years that Yves-Saint Laurent has been creating clothing’s and surprising everyone. On display there will be 11 different areas in which you  will enjoy no less than 150 models of haute couture and prêt-a-porter along with  also nearly 100 screenshots, movies and photos.

The artist began in his early years (he was only 18) with Christian Dior and started to grow into one of the most influential fashion companies in the world. The hunger and ambition he had as a teenager could be seen for miles, and over time he decided to open his own brand. The rest is history which you can visit and enjoy and examine through the example of the MAPFRE presentation where you will learn about the life and work of one of the most important icons as far as fashion is concerned.

More  Info: http://www.mapfre.com/fundacion/es/exposiciones/cultura/Exposiciones_Actuales.shtml

MAPFRE Foundation: Paseo de Recoletos, 25, 28004 Madrid, Spain

MiLK

If you want to enjoy the presentation all you have do is rent apartments in Madrid and visit one of the most beautiful cities in the world

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Translated by: Marc
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You’ll hardly find any other real food which has so many stories, which is scented with so many alleged qualities, that arouses similar levels of passion in all ages like chocolate does.

Since the Spanish, chocolate’s introducers to Europe, found out about in in America through pre-columbine cultures like the Aztecs and the Mayans, chocolate hasn’t stopped occupying an important place in culture, customs and luxuries – since one of its main characteristics is to be consumed in all social circles – of its inhabitants, surrounded in some sort of divine aura which connects it with ancient traditions regarding ragweed, god’s nectar and similar concepts.

According with the cosmology that its mythology admirably says, when the goddess Xmucané created the human race from corn, Kukulkán decided to honor the Mayans by giving them a prodigious gift which was no other than cocoa, in whose honor they celebrated the arrival of spring, a magnificent festival every year.

Its importance managed to reach such a dimension that in extensive areas in Central America, the Aztecs gave its seeds the same value as currency, which was used as an exchange coin for the more widespread currency in numerous commercial transactions.

It’s not strange that surrounding this special ingredient, which as well as being extraordinarily nutritious it also has an unforgettably delicious flavour, legends emerged which attributed magical powers to chocolate, especially sexual ones, consolidating the reputation and world fame of its aphrodisiac powers. Modern science itself has established, or rather confirmed, a direct connexion between chocolate and the world of feelings of love through a series of experiments which seem to have showed that its ingestion produces in the brain the same sensations that we experiment when in love, which would explain why we go back to chocolate when we feel lonely or in a breakup.

Given that the Aztecs and the Mayans probably liked to drink it in a cup once diluted in water, the same custom rooted in many places in Spain, where during a long time it became an important item of the citizen’s diet.

Just like, right in the Spanish Golden Century (16th – 17th), the ladies of the court used to take it secretly, once mixed with spices which were associated to venereal virtues, in slow sips and voluptuously small ones, chocolate became enormously popular amongst the religious people – who probably also weren’t immune to a certain secret concupiscence when its dark warmth lit up their lips.

Reputable pastry bakers, soon among the monks of the monasteries competition became rife yet unspoken of, developed their own individual and non-transferable recipes. One of them is the one that, according to the legend, Chocolatería San Ginés uses ( http://11870.com/pro/chocolateria-san-gines ), located just behind the lovely church which has the same name, also in the street with the same name (reason why in the Thirties of the past century, they called it La Escondida (The Hidden)). Few argue against the fact that this place (beautiful on the other hand) is the one that makes the best hot chocolate in Madrid.

Paul Oilzum

In Spain there’s an expression which says “things [have to be] clear and the chocolate thick”. There’s no better place than San Ginés to enjoy that meaning. Check it out yourself when you rent apartments in Madrid

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Until the 11th of September, the ICO Foundation is showing “The Power of Doubt,” a collection of specially created photographic installations.

The ICO Collections Museum, centred around contemporary art, in particular photography and architecture, has devised this exhibition in order to showcase a new global vanguard, different to that which arose during the Cold War, but which seeks in a similar way to challenge the dominant powers which provoke distrust in the system, and the pursuit of the “truth.” Hence the rebellious call to arms, “The Power of Doubt.”

In the exhibition, commissioned by Hou Hanru, you’ll find installations, works in two dimension and various other formats. All were specially created in order to question the preconceived mechanisms of looking, documenting, and communicating the reality.

The works oscillate between fictitious and truthful worlds. They all carry extreme points of view, representing a generation which seems to have lost all sense of certainty.

The invited artists all come from areas which have undergone profound social and political upheaval and transformation, such as Eastern Europe and China. In both cases, the changes have been directly linked to the processes of socialism and capitalism; dramatic changes which deeply affected daily life, controlling notions notions of “truth” from a position of power for almost a century.

Also collaborating are artists from South East Asia and Africa, areas greatly affected by the geo-political conflicts which led on from colonialism, and post-colonialism, which dramatically transformed the cultures and realities of both continents.

And in both cases, the societies of the countries involved were forced to accept the globalised culture, where concepts of peace, beauty, happiness and the family were remoulded to fit the dominance of the Market. The real question is, how new paradigms of emancipation are to be constructed within communities whose way of life has been reinvented, and how they are to emancipate themselves from a global capitalism.

In each work, the artist uses their art to channel the voices, and collective desires of their own societies, and places an emphasis on the idea of doubt, just as so many artists did last century as a response to prevailing power and injustice.

Amongst the artists participating is Hamra Abbas, the creator of a rich, conceptual work which encompasses both sculpture and painting. It is a delicate, detailed, almost perfect piece, which is profoundly linked to Pakistani culture, and the complex politics of the area.

Another interesting artist is Romanian Dan Perjovschi, whose trademark is a simplicity in technique, and a complexity in concept. His deeply politicised work expresses the unrest, and disconcertment of the Romanian society after the fall of socialism, and the implementation of capitalism. Perjovschi is takes a highly radical artistic approach, with comic style works which consider the notion of memory.

Also participating in the show are artists Adel Abdessemed, Du Zhenjun, Shaun Gladwell, Jiang Zhi, Pak Sheung Chuen, Shahzia Sikander, Dimitar Solakov, Tsang Kin-Wah, and Dinh Q. Lê.

For more information http://www.fundacionico.es/index.php?id=28

Nancy Guzman

Art and life always go together and this show aims to observe how life is moving, and the thoughts of the globalised world. Head down if you happen to be renting apartments in Madrid

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Translated by: Poppy
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Until the end of the world from 1991 is probably the last greatest  film by Wim Wenders. It failed perhaps in more ways than one being seriously crippled by the production company with a view to a commercial exhibition, but yet retains that special, indefinable lyricism, a characteristic of the best creations of the German director. In it is a character (William Hurt) who is dedicated to photograph images that can be seen by the blind. It is an act of love for his mother (Jeanne Moreau) not without an intense oedipal rivalry confrontation. His father (Max von Sydow) was the creator of the invention and lives hidden in a cave, equipped with the most advanced technology in the middle of nowhere on a vast territory inhabited by Aborigines in Australia where future and the distant past of humanity merge, like in the best  science fiction novels. The coming back of the prodigal child with the precious images that can make his mother see the faces and places she loved in her youth, before her vision is totally lossed. She is Jewish and, following the rise of the Nazis to power, the survivors of his family engaged in a escapade across several continents pursued, among others, by intelligence agencies that want to the invention for  military purposes, a woman madly in love with him, her lover and a quirky private detective, takes you through the world under the threat of possible nuclear explosion of a satellite out of control in a frantic and senseless persecution.

His own view is suffering serious harm, because that is one of the side effects of the electronic genius invented by his father. When finally, after a series of grueling, painful, intense, transformative and initiatory, tests  he manages to reach the end of the world and offers the pictures to his mother as the most precious of gifts, they kill her, although she never says a word . In them  families, friends and loved ones  are old and stray sadly in the streets and squares where she played and found love but have disappeared and  have been replaced by ugly new buildings that s he can not recognize and that speak of destruction and absence.

Not without sadness, we often experience the opposite feeling when we find old postcards of the cities we love in flea markets and it’s  hard to reconcile with the image we have of these places. Sometimes it seems then that we seeing pictures of ghosts

Probably Giambattista Piranesi (1720-1728) who portrayed memorably and overwhelmingly  the interior landscape of human beings, was the first author of postal memorabilia with  his famous views of Rome, forty of the which can be seen until September 9th at the Historical Library in Madrid

(http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/blogs/Foliocomplutense/4065.php)

Paul Oilzum

These are large prints (up to 50 by 70 inches in some cases) that are the most accurate and reliable documents of the aspect that the city of Rome had in the eighteenth century. Lose yourself in them when you rent apartments in Madrid

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Translated by: Marc
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