Gunpowder and explosive art as Prado museum hosts Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang

The smell of gunpowder still lingered in Madrid’s Prado museum Tuesday, just hours after China’s Cai Guo-Qiang, famed for his explosive art, put the finishing touch to an exhibition inspired by Spain’s greats. Better used to the work of long-dead painters, this is the first time that the museum has welcomed an artist-in-residence, whose internationally-acclaimed contemporary work stands in stark contrast to the centuries-old masterpieces normally on show. In his exhibition, some of which was produced on-site using his trademark gunpowder, Cai sought inspiration from famous artists such as El Greco, Spain’s Francisco Goya and Diego Velazquez, as well as other painters in the collection like Peter Paul Rubens. The result? A literal explosion of colour and darkness that reveals silhouettes, faces and landscapes, at times obvious and imposing, other times small and discreet. It’s a “dialogue between today’s art and the art of the past,” the 59-year-old told reporters.