Madrid

25 February 2012

All good things eventually come to an end. After an inspiring Midyear Meeting in Valladolid, it was time to go back to Alicante and use my new found energy.

But first, a stop in Madrid.

I've probably mentioned before that I lived in Madrid for a couple months two years ago. Even though the city continues to change, there's always a sense of familiarity when I wander around.

For lunch, a friend and I actually went to a restaurant I used to go to when we had a break between classes. More than anything, I was impressed that I was able to find it. The restaurant is located on a side street--and even though I wasn't completely sure where it was, my feet carried me right to where I wanted to go.

Later, we visited the Prado--without a doubt my favorite art museum in the world. This was probably my 7th or 8th visit to the Prado because I took an art history course two years ago that met in the Prado. However, I still find each visit worthwhile, and it was fun to go with someone who had never been.

I'm a huge fan of Spanish art. I LOVE the colors of El Greco, the realist approach of Velázquez, and the light and the dark of Goya. So, of course, I had to stop to visit a few of my favorite paintings--Las meninas and Vulcan by Velázquez.

This time, I was struck by the historical collection of paintings in the Prado. In particular, I was interested in a painting depicting the lovers of Teruel. As you can imagine, the story is quite similar to Romeo and Juliet.

The story begins in Teruel--located in Aragón, Spain.

There are two rich families--the Marcillas and the Seguras. Their children--Diego and Isabel--play together as children and eventually fall in love. Unfortunately, Diego's family loses a lot of their money and so Isabel's father won't allow her to marry him. Diego speaks to her father, and eventually they agree that if Diego can reclaim his family's wealth within 5 years he can marry Isabel.

Diego leaves Teruel to make his fortune, and Isabel doesn't hear anything from him for 5 years. Of course, her dad keeps bothering her about getting married, but Isabel refuses to marry anyone but Diego.

However, five years passes, and Isabel's dad decides to marry her to another man. After the wedding ceremony, Diego arrives bearing the wealth that he had accumulated and finds out that Isabel is married. Apparently, Diego hadn't counted the day that he made the agreement with Isabel's dad so he came too late.

Like all great love stories, timing proved to be the crux of the issue.

That night, Diego visits Isabel and tries to convince her to kiss him and run away with him. She protests that for as much as she loves Diego she can't deceive her new husband.

Diego tells her that he'll die without her kiss. Isabel continues to tell him that she can't cheat on her husband. Diego can't bear to live without her and dies right next to her bed.

When Isabel realizes Diego is dead, she wakes her husband and tells him the story of the two lovers. They decide to bury Diego in secret. At the funeral, Isabel wears her wedding dress and kisses Diego goodbye. She falls dead next to her love. Though they weren't together in life, they are together in death.