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On 2 May 1976 a young couple climbed on to the statue of Daoíz and Velarde and performed a striptease in front of a boisterous crowd of youngsters celebrating on the square. This was one of the first manifestations of the movida (scene), a period of hedonism, enthusiasm and creative energy

The controversial Academy Award-winning film director shot his first movie, Pepi, Luci, Bom in 1980. Iconoclastic and subversive, his bizarre characters – drug-pushing nuns, pill-popping housewives and outrageous transvestites – shocked a society that was only just emerging from the Franco era and captured the spirit of the movida on celluloid.

This self-taught artist (real name Carlos Sánchez Pérez) was a leading figure of the movida . He produced posters for several of Almodóvar’s films, as well as book illustrations, cartoons and record covers. His exhibition, the “Last Supper”, in the Moriarty Gallery in 1983, brought him to the attention of a wider public.

Madrid-born photographer Ouka-Lele (real name Bárbara Allende) got her big break in 1984 when her work was shown at the Moriarty Gallery. She is now one of Spain’s most famous photographers.

Lola Moriarty’s art gallery in Calle Almirante (still going strong) was enormously influential in promoting the careers of artists and photographers of the movida . Her husband, Borja Casani, was editor of Luna , a monthly magazine which published stories by Almodóvar and others. In 1984 Casani hired the entire Hotel Palace for a party attended by several thousand movidistas .

One of Spain’s best known pop bands of the movida was formed by brothers José and Nacho Cano, and singer Ana Torroja. They hit the big time after persuading a Madrid radio station to play their first single.

This La Latina nightclub was one of the most important venues of the movida period. Regularly closed down by the police because of drug dealing, it was here that all the influential movida bands played.

This former Professor of Marxist philosophy was elected Mayor of Madrid in 1979 and it was his tolerant and relaxed approach that made the movida possible. One million people attended his funeral in 1986.

The movida spawned a new generation of fashion designers who were all to become international names. Jesús del Pozo, Adolfo Domínguez and Agatha Ruíz de la Prada all flouted the fashion conventions of the day.

Villena’s novel Madrid ha muerto (Madrid has died) , published in 1999, points out the scene’s darker side, as youthful hopes and ideals give way to disillusionment.