772. The Art of Spain

And we continue on traveling the world during a global pandemic trying to get to know other cultures through their art. Today we go to Spain. An interesting place indeed. They gave us Tapas, wine, and Paella. There’s Basque and Flamenco. This just got interesante.

From 1936 to 1939 Spain broke out into a civil war. On the right was Francisco Franco, a military officer that led a coup against the standing political power on the left. They took over Morocco and didn’t stop until the whole country was in their control and then WWII. Seen as a dress rehearsal for the atrocities that were to reign over Europe until the Nazi’s were defeated in Berlin in 1945, it was a dark and interesting time in Spain’s history. Today Spain is more balanced but still struggles with what to do with Franco’s legacy, who didn’t relinquish power until his death in 1975. It did create some great art though. Picasso and Hemmingway to name check a few.

And that leads us to the Spain of today. There’s more color involved. Life has become colorful for the Spaniards.

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What else? Have they remembered how to laugh and have fun through it all?

And what about buildings and architecture?

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And we’ll leave you with some music from Spain to bring us up to current times. I think we can agree that Spain has it going on. A good thing.