The Círculo de Bellas Artes (the Fine Arts Center) is right in the heart of Madrid, just about a block away from the Cibeles Fountain in a fantastic art deco influenced building designed by Antonio Palacios, born in O Porriño, Pontevedra. The CBA, as it is sometimes known offers something in almost every category of artisitc expression: painting, photography, drawing, music, architecture, theater, cinema and more. It also has an ornate grandiose café with high celings and enormous windows that look out onto the Calle Alcalá. And you shouldn’t forget to take a trip to the rooftop and get a great view of the center of Madrid.
Bellas Artes is a great place to see expositions, which is why I mainly go, because if you are looking for a place to see an old movie in a good movie theater, this association has one of the few venues in all of Madrid to do that. In fact, it’s really only one of two. CBA put on cylces spotlighting directors or genres. This month, for example, they are featuring John Ford classics and New American Narrative cinema (Lynch and Tarantino, for example), so the offer is varied and attractive. I never had a chance to see these films under the big screen, so it is a fun opportunity. Last Saturday I saw “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, one of Ford’s best westerns starring John Wayne, James Stewart and Lee Marvin.
