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Madrid is home to some of the best art museums in the world. With huge collections that bring together many of the best artists ever, the stars of the show are undeniably the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museums. Yet these world-famous institutions are not the only places worth visiting. Housed in a former hospital from the 18th century, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía has an austere, stripped-down feel that perfectly complements the modern artwork displayed on its bare white walls.
While the collection focuses on work by such Spanish artists Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró, the museum regularly hosts touring international exhibitions. We should note and you surely will that the artists celebrated within these hallowed walls are mostly male, as at most art museums alas. Curators comically failed to redress this imbalance in a recent exhibition designed to celebrate women in art: out of the artworks featured, only 60 were by female artists.
We love taking the measure of a man who was not only the ruler of what was once the most powerful empire on the planet but also the owner of its most kick-ass art collection. This private museum is open to the public by appointment only. By the Puerta de Alcalá in one of the most exclusive parts of town, visitors gain access here by ringing a doorbell and riding up to the gallery space in a glass elevator.
Once inside, a guide takes you around a labyrinth-like space that houses an impressive collection of ultra-modern artwork. The experience is often disorienting, with the viewer confronted by AI machines generating a churn of images and text, or by sculptures of human figures that appear to be breaking apart. Yet despite its evident oddness, the collection is deeply cool, with a strong pop-art sensibility running throughout.
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Here, vinyl toys, skateboards and gorilla heads made from cardboard merit the same importance as traditional paintings and sculptures. The overall feel is luxurious and achingly chic — yet if do manage to snag an appointment, admission to this one-of-a-kind collection is absolutely free of charge. During his lifetime, the baron acquired artworks from major artists with the enthusiasm of a young boy trading baseball cards.
Including illustrious works by Dürer, Caravaggio, Degas and Roy Lichtenstein, the comprehensive collection will satisfy the most fickle of art connoisseurs. This former Miss Spain, who resides in the tax haven of Andorra, made the headlines recently when she removed Gauguin's Mata Mua from the country during lockdown — a bargaining chip of sorts in negotiations with the government.
The largest collection of his luminous work, however, can be found in this namesake museum , which occupies his former home in the upmarket district of Chamberí.
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Famous for his devotion to family, Sorolla often depicted joyful domestic scenes set against lush landscapes — tableaux that are as lively today as when he painted them over years ago. This cutting-edge art museum is located in an enormous industrial space that is falling apart at the seams — only gracefully. Formerly a training center for railway employees, the crumbling red-brick building was rented out for a nominal fee in to a pair of artists with a vision.
The idea was to create an independent space to showcase artwork that goes beyond the conventional to embrace the deeply political, including feminist, queer and anti-capitalist themes. Much of the work engages with the space itself — and for that reason, the peeling walls, rusting signs and rail signals have all been left untouched. Visitors wanting more of the same can head to a recently opened sister museum, Zapadores City of Arts.
Covering a 23, sq m space in the outskirts of Madrid, this former army base is now a vast playground for avant-garde artists. Displayed alongside the paintings is a dazzling array of jewels, ceramics, coins and weapons. Our favorite is the room full of beautifully decorated armors. Art in Madrid is not limited to the inside of museums: it spills out onto the streets — literally.
The city itself can be viewed as an open-air art museum in its own right, and lovers of the medium of graffiti will find some of the best work in the trendy Lavapiés district. These days, street art is increasingly going mainstream, with works by the biggest names now finding their way into galleries. A prismatic riot of color, his work is by turns attractive and slightly unsettling, an aesthetic that saturates the exhibition space he has just opened in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Usera, which has debuted with an initial exhibition of his work.
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In the future, the work of other artists from his agency Ink and Movement will also be on display. Besides regular exhibitions, La Casa Encendida hosts a constantly changing lineup of theatrical performances, workshops, conferences and concerts.
In addition to all this artistic activity, the year-old building also houses a coffee shop and a lovely rooftop bar that has great views of the city. In summer, this space gets activated with regular concerts and open-air screenings of cult classics. The contemporary art exhibitions that are a specialty here lean heavily toward the conceptual, with shows dealing with such timely themes as infection and the beauty hidden in the quotidian.