The Museum Reina Sofia contains the most complete collection worldwide of famous 20th Century Spanish masters such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, and is worth an extensive visit when travelling to Madrid.

I have discussed the Thyssen Bornemisza at length in my previous opinion, and have recommended it as an introduction to fine arts for the novice. That's because its collection of Impressionism and Expressionism is rather easy to comprehend and enjoy.

In this group of museums, the Reina Sofia stands out for its comprehensive collection of the 20th Avantgarde, Surrealism and Abstractionism (I will explain these terms further below). These styles were largely dominated by the Spanish masters Picasso, Miró and Dalí, hence this is the place where they have all been gathered. If you follow my advice to visit the Thyssen Bornemisza first, the Reina Sofia is not only the chronological continuation, but also provides further insight on and enjoyment of painting.

THE COLLECTION

Argueably THE most famous painter of the 20th Century, Picasso was the first important Avantgardist. The Avantgarde, meaning "those who are ahead of their time", originated from Symbolism (see previous review) and includes the whole process towards Abstraction, which completely leaves the grounds of reality and engages in supernatural and hallucinary - abstract - paintings. Picasso himself went through the whole process. His "Lady in Blue" (1901), on display here, is a classical example of Symbolism. His late abstract work culminates in his most important painting, the "Guernica" (1937). A collossal painting of 3,5 by 8 meters, the Guernica is the center of the whole Reina Sofia collection. Painted solely in black, grey, and white, it contains abstract (yet still identifyable) scenes of people fighting, killing and crying for help. The title Guernica originates from the Spanish word for War. This very depressive work displays the whole sufferings of the Spanish civil war, and was exhibited at the world exhibition in Paris 1937 to raise money for refugees.

Miró's work is hard to classify, it's somewhere between Symbolism, Abstraction and Surrealism (to be introduced below), although he never identified himself with any of these styles. Throughout his life, Miró concentrated on the same recurring motives of women, birds, star constellations, sund and moon. His paintings are extremely simplified - often they only show the contours of an object, filled with few colours. His painting "Man with a pipe" (1925) could easily have been the model for Steven Spielberg's E.T.. Mirós is joy to look at for his use of bright colours and simple forms, which don't require much interpretation.

Dalí is the most famous and most important Surrealist. Surrealism tries to embrace the subconscious part of the mind, dreams, associations and visions. It's extension of time and space pretty much resembles an LSD trip, and it's been said - though not proven - that most surrealists were actually junkees. Dalí takes this even further by including sexual and - argueably - perverse elements, resulting mainly from his own (proven) impotence. His most famous painting on display here is "The great Masturbator" (1929). Not much to be said about it, you must see that yourself. An ecqually comprehensive collection of Dalí's work can only be found at his later domicile, Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA.

One outstanding picture in this otherwise unspectacular compilation is "Accident" (1936) by Alfonso Ponce de León. The painting predicts and captures the car accident in which he died later in the same year.

There are two separate compilations Abstraction in the Reina Sofia, one on the Spanish period, and one on the European context. As explained before, the style moves away from the actual forms of the object and takes it to associative symbols. Esteban Vicente's "Middle East" (1953) simply describes the landscape by throwing spots of earthcolours on the canvas. In Francis Bacon's "Lying Figure" (1966) you can at least imagine the women on the table (or is it a bed?). Not my favourite really, as you may sense from my short description.

This section encourages the dabte on what is art and what is not. For myself, I don't understand how onethousand yellow nails on a white piece of wood ("Yellow-white Extension" (1979) by Jesús Rafael Soto) or a mere blue square on white canvas ("Concorde" (1958) by Ellsworth Kelly) can be sold as fine art. The arts critique Michel Seuphor wrote about Concorde: "Kelly's art is transparent and light, like mornig air on mountain peaks". As I say, stay away from drugs.