The Discovery of Spain @ National Galleries

The problem with this exhibition is its lack of cohesion. While there are some Goyas, Picassos, El Grecos and Velazquezes, they are few and far between. The show had been bulked up by the inclusion of a number of British painters: David Wilkie, John Philip and Arthur Melville to name a few. There seems little to link the romantic work of Sir David Wilkie to a piece such as Picasso’s Weeping Woman: yes, Picasso was Spanish and Wilkie’s subject matter was Spain ... but surely this fact alone is a little tenuous.

With no disrespect to the British paintings, that’s probably not what the crowds were coming to see, especially since the majority of the British work (and indeed much of the Spanish) forms part of the National Galleries of Scotland’s main collection, and can therefore be seen for free the rest of the year. I did feel somewhat cheated at the scarcity of the Spanish work; quite frankly, I expected there to be more to see.

El Greco’s work was a highlight; the sense of foreboding and emotional rawness in his paintings is quite breathtaking. It's just a shame there wasn't more. The room devoted to the Spanish Civil War notably lacked Picasso’s Guernica, a painting too fragile to be moved. There was a weak, small and vapid reproduction of it printed on the wall: for anyone who knows the painting this will evoke annoyance as it has completely lost its potency; anyone to whom Guernica is new will leave wondering what all the fuss is about. Despite a number of quite stunning works, this exhibition is probably not worth the inflated entry fee.