Teresa Solar Abboud : Madrid Through an Artist’s Perspective

On the occasion of our special issue on ARCOmadrid and the art week, we asked artist Teresa Solar Abboud to draw up a special artistic itinerary around Madrid.

Teresa Solar Abboud ( born 1985, Madrid, Spain) graduated with an MA in Cultural Studies from the UEM (Universidad Europea de Madrid) in Madrid in 2009. Solar Abboud’s work has been shown at the CA2M Madrid, Fundación Marcelino Botín in Santander, the MAXXI in Rome, Villa Croce in Genoa, the General Public in Berlin, and Kunstverein München in Munich.
In 2017 Solar Abboud participated in the 9th edition of KölnSkulptur curated by Chus Martínez.
She has just opened her solo show “Cabalga, Cabalga, Cabalga” at Matadero Madrid, she currently participates at “The Future” section at ARCO and will participate in the show “Blind Faith” at Haus der Kunst Munich in March 2018.

An Art Itinerary of Madrid by Teresa Solar Abboud

“If you are wandering around Madrid to spend your leisure time, you should definitely start having breakfast at the beautiful terrace of the Museo Romántico, at Tribunal’s neighborhood. Then head to Convento de las Descalzas to get a good taste of Madrid traditional architecture and an amazing of baroque art. After that, keep walking to visit San Antonio de la Florida church, to see Goya’s famous frescoes.
By that time, it would probably be time for a lunch break! If you are at San Antonio de la Florida, having lunch at Casa Mingo is a must. There you can eat their delicious chicken with cider in an authentic Madrilian atmosphere.
After lunch head to the Retiro area. Walk towards the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, as it has been remodeled recently and the visit is amazing.
Then go to Parque del Retiro and visit el Palacio de Cristal that is managed by Museum Reina Sofía, where you can see great site-specific interventions. Within the park you can also visit Palacio de Velázquez, also managed by Museo Reina Sofía and that now has an excellent exhibition by Spanish artist Esther Ferrer. If you’re looking for something new or unconventional, then I suggest you to go to Yaby, a new artist- run space with a fresh and unconventional program (by appointment only).
I am sure that art lovers will love Madrid’s Museo Geominero, it is one of the most charming museums of Madrid, the architecture is amazing and the collections are also great. For dinner I would go for tapas at La Latina, or you could go to Juana la loca restaurant. After dinner, drinking cañas at La Latina is a great plan, I suggest you go to El Madroño, a restaurant where you can order licor de madroño, a typical Madrilian fruit.
Before leaving Madrid, don’t forget to have a walk around one of the most charming areas of the city, which is pretty near El Madroño: have a walk through Conde de Barajas square and cross Calle Mayor. There is a group of small streets next to la calle el Biombo and San Nicolás church, that I really love, it has all the taste of Madrid’s classy, narrow and old flavour”.