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The end of the lockdown is likely to see mass movement across the country as everyone rushes out to do everything they hadn't been able to do for weeks – even if, in a 'normal' year, they probably wouldn't have got around to it.
But if you can't wait that long, how about a trip to an art gallery?
Sorry, we can't promise a real one just yet. Although what we can do is give you a taste of some of Spain's most famous art throughout the ages to whet your appetite – and perhaps give you inspiration to plan a 'proper' trip once we're allowed out again.
Of course, you've heard of Picasso and Dalí – the former's massive Guernika, originally thought to be a surrealist take on the horrors of the Civil War but now thought to be unrelated and much more personal – has its own entire wing in Madrid's Reina Sofía Museum, complete with sketches and full footage of 'the making of'; the latter's Persistance of Memory, or 'melting clocks', is in New York and the Enigma of Desire, or 'My Mother, My Mother, My Mother', is in Munich, but both are often 'rescued' for special exhibitions at major galleries nationwide.
You've almost certainly heard of Goya, whose late-18th and early-19th century Romantic-era works feature battle scenes, figures from Classical history, and human subjects – his La Maja Desnuda is the title of and inspiration for the early 20th-century novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, (published as A Woman Triumphant in English), an author who had three of his books made into Hollywood films starring Greta Garbo and Rudolf Valentino.
But others may be less familiar to you, even though they are household names in Spain – and whether you consider art to be a complete academic subject or merely about pretty pictures you like looking at and would hang on your wall for decoration, something out there is sure to captivate you.
Joaquín Sorolla
We'll start off with one of our personal favourites – and one whose pictures are beautifully relaxing at a time you may be somewhat stressed because of the whole quarantine thing. Although he fell in love with the Alicante-province coastal town of Jávea, and many of his works depict its glorious seascapes with rock formations and cliffs – and his children paddling – and although residents in Jávea are urging their council to set up a Sorolla museum, the main shrine to this turn-of-the-century painter is in Madrid. Simple country and coastal snapshots – a young boy leading a grey horse onto the beach, white-clad parasol-bearing women walking along the shore, fishermen, cattle-drawn carts, markets – which manage to capture the reflection of natural light on colour giving his images a truly lifelike 3D appearance, Sorolla's masterpieces have a calmness, a serenity, about them, and you can almost feel the sea breeze wafting over you as you view them. In fact, water and waves are frequently featured in his canvases, of which 58 out of his total of 2,200 were displayed at London's National Gallery last year between March and July. Check out more about his life and works, and admire some of his paintings here, in addition to the first photograph above of his Valencia beach scene (by Arte Español en Nueva York on Twitter, @ArtSpainNY). And you'll understand what we're talking about, vis à vis the amazing light-reflection bit.
José Benlliure
Born in Valencia's Cabanyal neighbourhood in 1855, and chairman of the Fine Arts of Spain association in Rome from 1901, Benlliure's works hopped between religious and real-life, with the latter mostly featuring 'ordinary' scenes – humble families or groups of men in workshops, slum homes and libraries, manual workers, lower-class villagers at the market, men in farmer's clothing in dark, dusty bars, families in church – in fact, on the whole, his Impressionist works are considered a snapshot of working-class life in Valencia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. His detail is particularly striking in the buildings – one almost does a double take, believing them to be photographs rather than oils-on-canvas.
Among his non-Valencia-inspired pictures are the Carnival in Rome, which is rather more colourful, and can be viewed at the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Málaga; others are on display at Madrid's El Prado – although the best place of all to get a real feel for his life and works is in his own house. You'll find this in Valencia, open to the public, and will also be able to view some of the equally-famous classical sculptures by his brother, Mariano Benlliure.
Picture two is Una Granja Española ('A Spanish Farm'), from Amazon where prints of it are on sale, and you can see what we mean about detail in buildings.
Maruja Mallo and Remedios Varo
Two key names of the famous arts and literature movement known as the 'Generation of '27', they were somewhat overshadowed by much bigger figures such as Federico Garcia Lorca (poet and playwright) and Salvador Dalí (see above). Guess why? Well, because they were women, of course. Painting and writing were never, until relatively recently, considered 'suitable' occupations for females, and history tells us that time and time again. For this reason, in these days of equality, these are two names you should brand onto your neurons and not forget.
And not just for their famous associations, either: Maruja Mallo was romantically-linked to Elche-born poet Miguel Hernández and even to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and close friends with Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, whilst Remedios Varo hobnobbed regularly with Federico García Lorca and Dalí and was in a relationship with French surrealist poet Benjamin Peret.
Maruja's works are more colourful, more rebellious, and reflect her non-conformist, anarchic character, with curious titles such as Tierra y Excrementos ('Earth and Excrements'). If you're into Picasso, you'll find similarities, although if you only appreciate artwork that's 'actually a picture of something', then hers is far less unsettling and 'easy to follow', such as in picture three (from Pinterest), La Verbena ('The Street Party'), from 1928.
Whilst you're at it, take a peek at some of the other fascinating women in Spain's history, from Roman times to the 21st century, including artists and authors.
Francisco Ribalta and José de Ribera
Spain's Siglo de Oro, or 'golden age', actually went on for far longer than a siglo, or century – it officially started in 1492, with the 'discovery' of the Americas and the boom in Spain's fortunes off the back of the colonisation, and ended with the death of its last 'celebrity', playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca, in 1681.
In terms of cultural history, the 'Golden Century' covered the Renaissance, which did not reach Spain until the 16th century, and the Baroque, in the 17th century.
You may not realise it, but you're probably familiar with artists from this long, glorious era – writers like Miguel de Cervantes, whose epic Don Quijote is still enjoyed today, and painters like Murillo, Zurbarán, Velázquez and El Greco (who was actually originally Greek, but whose scenes over Toledo city will take your breath away).
But you may be less familiar with two of the east coast's top artists – Francisco Ribalta, who was born in Lleida and whose career was mostly spent in Valencia city and nearby Algemesí, and José de Ribera, who was from Xàtiva (Valencia province) but lived out his painting life in Italy. Both are known for their religious scenes in oil with the characteristic high finish of the time, and you can see Ribalta's Last Supper at the Corpus Christi Colegio del Patriarca on Valencia's C/ La Nau, near the old Literary University (picture four), or pop into the San Jaime Apóstol church in Algemesí and view his well-known altarpiece.
Ribera's The Bearded Woman and Archimedes are at the El Prado, and his Immaculate Conception is the main feature of the altarpiece at Salamanca's Las Agustinas Convent.
Joan Miró
It's very likely you and Joan Miró have been alive at the same time – this painter, sculptor, engraver and potter lived to be over 90, passing away on Christmas Day in 1983.
Thankfully, his works are easier to find than many other great artists from bygone days – a sizeable collection, plus other memorabilia, are on display at the Joan Miró Foundation he set up in Barcelona and at the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, where he lived with his wife, the Pilar from the title.They are also largely scattered around Madrid's Reina Sofía Museum and its Espacio Miró, and the Mas Miró Foundation in Montroig (Barcelona province) where the artist spent most of his summers.
If you're in Paris, he's also at the Centre Pompidou, and in New York, at the MOMA.
As for his intriguing, and huge, sculptures, the Bottle Woman can be found in the Viera and Clavijo Cultural Park in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, his Lunar Bird is in Madrid, his brightly-coloured Woman and Bird – created in his last year of life – is in Barcelona, although his best-known, and slightly shocking, bronze figure known as Great Maternity is in San Francisco, California.
For a brilliant example of his crazy colours, picture five (from Pinterest) is one of his earlier works, The Garden, from 1925.
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