The Paseo del Arte is an art walk par excellence
A stroll along one of Madrid’s most elegant boulevards links three world class art museums in a ‘golden triangle’ barely ten minutes from one another and all in beautiful buildings adapted for cultural purposes. Along with a couple of relative newcomers, they form perhaps Europe’s leading art thoroughfare, while a visit to the nearby Retiro Park offers even more. Along the way you will encounter virtually every major artist from medieval times to the present day and some of the most famous works in the history of art.
The Prado on the Paseo del Arte
The Museo Nacional del Prado is Madrid’s best known attraction. Housed in a gigantic, neo-classical building opened in 1819 to display the royal art collection, the Prado (meadow) is one of the world’s first public art museums. A free map will guide you to the ‘must sees’.
The core of the collection reflects royal tastes and political alliances from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Works by court painters Velazquez and Goya are well represented, while political ties with France, Italy and Flanders have resulted in works by the likes of Poussin, Titian, Botticelli, Artemisia Gentileschi, Caravaggio, Rafael, Rubens, Breughel, Dürer and Van Dyck. The Prado also has the world’s greatest Hieronymous Bosch collection, including his surreal triptych Garden of Earthly Delights, which used to hang in King Felipe II’s bedroom.
Hieronymus Bosch’s surreal triptych ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ used to hang in King Felipe II’s bedroom
Among the Prado’s greatest attractions are the Velazquez rooms, where pride of place goes to Las Meninas (The Hand Maidens), often described as the greatest painting in the world for its complex interplay of perspectives. Velazquez depicts himself at work on the painting, while the king and queen are reflected in a mirror at the far end of the room, but in whose place every viewer also stands, observed by Velazquez, the little Infanta Margarita and other figures.
‘Las Meninas’ (‘The Hand Maidens’) by Velasquez always draws a crowd
There are more rooms dedicated to Goya than any other artist. The works cover every stage of his career, including his images of war, such as The Third of May, 1808, depicting executions carried out by French troops in Madrid.
Further up the the Paseo del Arte, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, or simply the Thyssen, holds the private collection of the late Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, widely considered among the most important in the world. Housed in a former ducal palace, it comprises some 800 works arranged chronologically to tell the story of eight centuries of western art, from Duccio di Buoninsegna’s 13th century Christ and the Samaritan Woman to Roy Lichtenstein’s 1963 Woman in Bath. Thanks to a major refurb involving terra cotta pink walls, marble floors and skylights, the works can be enjoyed in perfect conditions.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
All the major schools are represented, including the German Renaissance (for example, Cranach the Elder, Dürer), Italian Baroque (Titian, Caravaggio),the Flemish School (Van Eyck), Impressionism (Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, Degas, Pisarro, Sisley), German Expressionism (Nolde, Kirchner, Dix, Beckmann, the Blue Rider group’s Franz Marc and Kandinsky), Russian constructivism, abstract art, Cubism, Surrealism, European post-war figurative art and Pop Art. The baron’s collection is supplemented by European and American works he bequeathed to his wife Baroness Carmen “Tita” Cervera (a former Miss Spain), which span the 17th to 20th century and are housed in a modern extension.
Completing the ‘golden triangle’ is the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in a great slab of a building flanked by exterior glass lift shafts. The Reina Sofia’s great jewel is unquestionably Guernica, Picasso’s large painting denouncing war and fascism, which commemorates the destruction in 1937 of the Basque town of Guernica by German bombers flying in support of Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War.
Picasso refused to allow the painting to be exhibited in Spain under the Franco regime, and it was only in 1981 that it was finally brought to Spain from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has hung in the Reina Sofía since 1992. (The artist had intended the painting to be housed in the Prado and his family opposed the change of location. The Basque Country also failed in its attempt to have it exhibited in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.)
Picasso’s anti-fascist ‘Guernica’ is the Reina Sofia’s top attraction
The Reina Sofia’s permanent collection contains works by practically all the major Spanish artists of the 20th century. Dali and Miro have rooms to themselves, while others include Gris, Gonzalez, Tapies, Ponce de Leon and Saura. There are also works by non-Spanish artists such as Andre Breton, Man Ray, Henry Moore, Dan Flavin, Anish Kapoor, Bruce Nauman, Tony Cragg, Ellsworth Kelly and Julian Schnabel.
The museum is built around a peaceful inner courtyard with trees, giant shrubs and an unmistakable, girder-like sculpture by Alexander Calder. The Reina Sofia also curates exhibitions in the Palacio de Cristal and the Palacio de Velazquez in the Retiro park. (See below.)
A more recent addition to the Paseo del Arte is the CaixaForum Madrid, one of several venues in Spain funded by the cultural arm of the Catalan bank. The spectacular premises are the result of the renovation of the former Mediodia electric power station by the Swiss architects Herzog & De Meuron (Konzerthaus Munich, London’s Royal College of Art extension, Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, etc.). The building seems to levitate off the street, while the vertical garden toys with the senses.
The complex encompasses exhibition halls, an auditorium, conference rooms, a cafe, a shop/bookstore and a restaurant. As well as exhibitions of ancient, modern and contemporary art, the building also hosts other events such as music and poetry festivals.
Also on the Paseo del Arte is the Fundacion MAPFRE, where a former 19th century palace houses the Recoletos Exhibition Hall, presenting shows on the origins of modern art. Next door, the Barbara Braganza Exhibition Hall is one of the few spaces in Madrid dedicated solely to photography.
Elsewhere in Madrid: Across the plaza from the Royal Palace, the Spanish capital’s most ambitious museum project in decades has resulted in the Royal Collections Gallery, which has united five centuries of the Spanish Crown’s most remarkable treasures under one roof. The idea of creating a gallery to showcase treasures in the royal collections was originally conceived in the 1930s. However, plans were interrupted by the Spanish civil war and the subsequent Franco dictatorship. The project was delayed for another quarter of a century by the discovery of a huge chunk of Madrid’s ninth century Arab wall. Then came the 2008 financial crisis and, more recently, the Covid pandemic.
Until now scattered around 19 royal palaces and 10 monasteries all over the country or kept in storage, hundreds of luxury items collected by a succession of monarchs include artworks by the likes of Velazquez, Carvaggio, Titian, El Greco and Goya as well as tapestries, carriages, fans, clocks, glassware, reliquaries, rugs, furniture and musical instruments. Many of the items have never been on public view before. About a third of the 600-plus exhibits will be regularly rotated and there will also be temporary exhibitions, while the section of the Arab wall has been preserved and can be viewed through a huge window.
A short walk over from the Paseo del Arte is the Parque del Retiro, a 300-acre public park where Madrileños come to play, relax or take a boat onto the lake. Here you will also find two annexes of the Reina Sofia. The glass and wrought iron Palacio de Cristal is a luminous space under a soaring roof ideal for viewing large scale installations and sculpture, while the Palacio de Velasquez is a spacious brick and tile building which hosts regular exhibitions of contemporary art.
