Postcard From Madrid, Spain: Bewitched and bedeviled

Above: Detail of “Allegoric Capricio,” Eugenio Lucas Velazquez (1817-1870), 1852, Lazaro Galdiano Museum.

Vispera de Todos los Santos. The hallowed eve preceding two holy days in the Catholic Church: All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. Or, for the superstitious, La Noche de Brujas, when the witches fly.

Today, it appears Spain has succumbed to the highly contagious American-style celebration of Halloween. With all its horror-film-like bloody mess.

Above: Seen along the streets of Madrid.

Visiting museums, I found my eyes interpreting everything as relating to Halloween. Spain seems like a natural. Certainly, religious art never shied from depictions of devils.

Above: Devils in the details of works in Lazaro Galdiano Museum.

And there are the famous witches of Goya.

Above: Details of “The Witches” and “The Witches’ Sabbath,” Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828), 1798, Lazaro Galdiano Museum.

Throwing in a nightmare-inducing image emerged from Bosch’s workshop might seem gratuitous on my part, but isn’t Halloween all about excess?

Above: Detail of “Tondal’s Vision,” the Workshop of Hieronymus Van Aeken Bosch (1450-1516), 1484, Lazaro Galdiano Museum.

Above, top left: Detail of “Christmas Fair,” 1927. Bottom left: Detail of “Fossil Den,” 1930. Both by Maruja Mallo (1902-1995). Right: “Maruja Mallo en Playas de Chile,” photo of costumed artist, 1945. All at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía on loan from the Pompidou Centre, Paris, France.

Pulvis. Cinis. Nihil./Dust. Ashes. Nothing.”

Above left: Detail of “Procession of Death,” Jose Gutierrez Solana (1886-1945), 1930, Reina Sofia. Right: Detail of “Skulls,” Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.

And scary clowns.

Above left: Detail of “Clown Mirror,” Roni Horn (1955-), Caixa Forum. Top right: “The Pretty Faces,” Elliott Erwitt (1928-2023), Leica Picture of the Year 2023, Fernan Gomez Theater.

Should I worry if Lamar seemed to linger longingly by this bride? Well, who could blame the man when faced with endless echoes of me every time we enter this apartment building?

¡Buuu! A ghost of Halloweens to come. What a nightmare!