Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

Madrid Museums

With the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo Nacional del Prado, Thyssen-Bonemisza Museum and dozens of other smaller museums and galleries, Madrid museums have emerged from the shadows of Paris and London art worlds. In the last 20 years, Madrid has become an essential art destination in Europe. Here are four must-see venues that justify purchasing a Madrid Museums Pass.

Museo del Prado
Museo Nacional del Prado features one of the world’s finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century (when Spain led the world) to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection; founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works; “El Prado”, its nickname, is considered one the greatest museums of art in the world, featuring works by Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens Hieronymus Bosch, and many other premier artists; the Prado has also featured a major Pablo Picasso retrospectives in connection with the Cleveland Museum of Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Barcelona’s Museo Picasso
DAYS & HOURS: Mon-Sat 10 am–8 pm, Sundays and holidays 10 am-7 pm; closed on 1 January, 1 May, and 25 December
ADDRESS: Calle Ruiz de Alarcón 23
TRANSIT: Atocha Train and Metro Station
PHONE: +34 91 330 2800
WEBSITE: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/

Reina Sofía Museum
The officially named Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Spain’s national museum of 20th Century art; opened in 1992, it honors Queen Sofía and was formerly the site of the first General Hospital of Madrid; now home to one of the foremost collections of 20th and 21st century art within 904,000 square feet, Reina Sofía is one of the world’s largest contemporary art museums; located on a triangular space adjoining the original museum, are three newer buildings housing two large galleries, a library and an auditorium; a massive blade-like roof juts out over the street covering the new steel and glass structures and the 18th century building; large-format art works are now be exhibited in two massive rooms dedicated to temporary exhibitions; a 500-seat auditorium, 250,000-book volume library and bookshop specializing in art from the 20th and 21st centuries round out the offerings; see this star-power works from these artists: Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Julio González, Pablo Picasso, Miguel Barceló, Eduardo Chillida, Benjamín Palencia, Gerardo Rueda, Alberto Sánchez, Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies, Jean Arp, Francis Bacon, Alexander Calder, Max Ernst, Vassily Kandinsky, Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger and Jacques Lipchitz; Reina Sofía has quickly become one of the 12 busiest museums in the world
DAYS & HOURS: Mon- 10am-9pm and Wed-Sat 10a-9pm, hours vary on Sunday
ADDRESS: Calle Santa Isabel, 52
TRANSIT: Atocha Train and Metro Station
PHONE: +34 91 774 1000
WEBSITE: https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Opened in 1992 and Located in the Golden Triangle of Art, which includes the Prado and Reina Sofia museums, Thyssen-Bonemisza complements the Prado’s collection of old paintings and the modern art housed at the Reina Sofía Museum by featuring movements and styles such as the Italian and Dutch primitives, German Renaissance art, 17th-century Dutch painting, Impressionism, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction, and Pop Art; in terms of volume, Thyssen-Bornemisza collection boasts over 1,600 paintings and was once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection; without a doubt, Thyssen-Bonemisza contains one of the most important private art collections of the 20th century
DAYS & HOURS: Open Wednesdays-Mondays 10a-10p; closed on 1 January, 1 May, and 25 December
ADDRESS: Paseo del Prado, 8
TRANSIT: Métro Banco de Espana Station
PHONE: +34 902 76 05 11
WEBSITE: https://www.museothyssen.org/en

CaixaForum Madrid
CaixaForum Madrid is a museum and cultural center, it is sponsored by La Caixa; it was constructed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The architect combined an old abandoned electrical station with new construction of floors encased with oxidized cast iron, which was meant to be of a similar color and weight as the brick below; on the house next to it, there is a green vertical wall designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc; the red of the top floors contrasts with the plants on the wall, which match the character of the neighboring Real Jardín Botánico. Although CaixaForum is a contemporary building, it often exhibits retrospectives of artists from earlier times.
DAYS & HOURS: Mon-Sun 10am-8pm
ADDRESS: Paseo del Prado 36
TRANSIT: Atocha Train and Metro Station
PHONE: +34 913 30 73 00
WEBSITE https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/caixaforum-madrid

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