In 2018, I set about painting a new picture of the view from the terrace of my flat in Madrid. That is why the painting is called “Monmundo Madrid” (“Monworld Madrid”).
What could be seen from that terrace? In the foreground, on the right, the semi-circular wrought-iron balcony, dating from 1930, in the Modernist style. Directly ahead, the vast El Retiro Park in all its splendour. Behind it, some of Madrid buildings (few of them). Further in the distance, a mountain range which, in the northern part, is known as the ‘Sleeping Woman’ (I prefer that name, although the more common one is the ‘Dead Woman’), which links up with the Sierra de Gredos to the west. And, as a magnificent backdrop, the Madrid sky, so often bursting with colour.
I sought to bring my two living spaces together through a pair of twin paintings: the ‘Monmundo Cueva’ painting I’d painted in 2016 and this one. I commissioned another stretcher frame with exactly the same dimensions as the ‘Monmundo Cueva’ painting: 140 cm wide by 110 cm high, with rounded corners.
I was struck by a curious coincidence: the balcony has wrought-iron rose-shaped motifs with four petals, and in times gone by, the iron that came from Cueva del Hierro, when fashioned into railings, was distinguished by the use of four-petalled rose motifs. So I wanted to highlight that detail in the painting.
And from there I let my imagination run wild: I depicted the trees, the buildings, the silhouette of that beautiful Sleeping Woman and the lovely skies of Madrid. Below are the process and the result.
Ah! And since October 2023, that balcony has been adorned with a Palestinian flag, which I’ve also included below…
