Just a hop skip and a whizzzzzz from central Madrid, we hurtle down the tracks out of town. My mom is sitting next to me, my dad across from me, and Castillian plains flash by out the windows of the AVE.
I excitedly chatter to my parents about the sights I most want to see on our afternoon sojourn to Toledo. Always an avid art lover, my recent focus on the art most famous to Spain has me filled to the brim with El Greco Fever. Something along the given name of “Domenicus Theokopotolous,” El Greco is a beloved Spanish hero. He hangs proudly all over the Prado with the likes of Velasquez, Miro, and Dali. A semester of History of Spanish Art has provided me with more information about the obscure works of this painterly painter than anyone should probably have.
So we arrive (most quickly, thanks to the high-speed train) in Toledo a short time later. I think we stop for pizza at a local cafe. We wander the incredibly narrow streets investigating synagogues and mosques, and for a short time we find ourselves illegally inside of an art school. Nothing too interesting…
I determinedly march my parents over to the El Greco Museum
And then promptly realize that it is closed.
Not to be deterred, I then navigate our party to the Church of Santo Tome to find a mural I have so excruciatingly been memorizing, analyzing, and dissecting in the past weeks.
We arrive, and we enter. The mural is beautiful, and I’m elated telling my parents all of the history of the painting and church. Things on our El Greco Scavenger Hunt are looking up!
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| art-reproductions.net |
We walk on, exploring more of the lovely town. There are other sights to be seen, of course, but on my art tour few are on my radar. I’m content and enchanted, taking in the town and soaking up all I can of my parents during their visit.
But little do we know that the best is yet to come. Just up ahead, as we travel through the misty afternoon, I suddenly have run up along a hillside… as I’m pretty sure this is no average vista…
Is this looking familiar to any Hispanophiles or art lovers? Are any of you recalling a certain broody, storm lit painting most iconic of the town of Toledo?
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| penwith.co.uk |
I have found myself lost in my own Toledo landscape, suggested by El Greco and made real by this magical day. I haven’t had a “Magical Day with Matisse,” I’ve had a Grand day with El Greco!
So that’s my story of my day in Toledo, excited about life and excited about learning.
Have you people ever gotten excited about a famous work of art or a famous location? Was it as good as you hoped when you saw it or got there? I’ve had a very anticlimatic moment with a Dali painting…
Meri
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