Calle de Luis Muriel

The name comes from the world of theatre, from the hand-painted backdrops that set the scene for zarzuelas and comedies in the golden age of Madrid’s stages. Luis Muriel was the surname of a line of scene painters: the father, Luis Muriel y Amador (1825-1877), first trained as an architect before turning to scenery painting, and the son, Luis Muriel y López (around 1855-1919), a pupil of the landscape painter Carlos de Haes. Between them they covered the stages of the Teatro de la Zarzuela, the Español, the Comedia and the Circo de Price with painted forests and palaces. The street belongs to the El Viso estate, the rationalist garden city that Rafael Bergamín built between 1933 and 1936 on one of the highest points in Madrid. Several streets there bear the surnames of artists, and this is among them. The sign does not say which of the two Muriels it honours, an ambiguity that suits them: both practised the same craft of painting horizons that existed only while the show lasted.