I’ve always been fascinated by the way buildings hold memory — façades weathered by time, chipped tiles, faded lettering, ironwork catching the shadows at dusk. My new series of paintings takes me deep into the heart of my birth town Madrid, where some of the most iconic façades belong not to monuments or palaces, but to bars and tapas taverns. 

These entrances of carved wood, tiled exteriors, neon or brass signs, lanterns dulled with age — they are more than façades. They are witnesses. My goal with this series is not only to capture their appearance but also the stories embedded in them: the echoes of conversations, the glow of vermouth in a glass, the texture of paint cracked by decades of sunlight. 

The ritual of going for tapas in Madrid is more than eating; it’s a way of life. Many of these century-old taverns remain in the same streets where artists, poets, workers, and wanderers have gathered for generations. They are places where history and everyday life blend seamlessly. 

When I wander through La Latina, the Barrio de las Letras, or the winding streets near Sol, my eye is always drawn upward — to the painted tiles, to the signs that are half-erased, to the wood that has aged into deep, textured tones. That gaze is what I want to translate into brushstrokes: not simply a likeness, but the emotion of a façade that has seen thousands of nights. 

My hope is that this series becomes a kind of love letter to Madrid, written in brushstrokes and memory. 

España Cañí — A Façade Painted in Tiles, Song, and Memory 

I begin this series with España Cañí, a bar-restaurant standing at Plaza del Ángel, 14, in the heart of Madrid.

Its façade is a poem in azulejos (hand-painted ceramic tiles), painted panels, vibrant colour and tradition—an image that draws you in long before you cross its threshold. 

España Cañí, which translates as “Gypsy Spain,” is known as a flamenco venue. This is one of two tabernas with paintings by Julio Romero de Torres represented in tile. Julio Romero de Torres began this painting, “Cante Hondo”, in 1922 and completed it by 1924. “This composition contains notes of popular Andalusian poetry… . Around the central figure of a woman–a figure of doom–circle the passions of man: love, jealousy and death. The central figure gives a touch of eroticism, illustrating something between the sacred and profane. The guitar serves as the axis of symmetry, while she rises on a silver pedestal… . At her feet is a jealous lover who has stabbed and killed the woman he loves. To the right are two lovers kissing. Behind the central figure a woman lies in a coffin with her children mourning on her side, and her greyhound Pacheco howls in pain. This last scene may herald the death of the artist. Each scene is independent of the others, like an alterpiece, but they all work in harmony. In the background is an imaginary landscape known in Andalusian lore… .”

This is a photo of the orginal España Cañí

And mine