Thanks to the legacy of her Hapsburg and Bourbon kings and the more recent donation of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his Spanish wife Carmen, the Spanish capital Madrid is home to an exceptional wealth of paintings. The three great museums - all within walking distance of each other - provide visitors with an exceptional view of western art from the classical period to the 21st century
Museo del Prado
Inaugurated in the 17th century, the Prado has over 5000 paintings. There are works by artists of the Spanish school from as far back as the time of the 16th century Counter-reformation period . El Greco, Velazquez, Goya are all represented as are Flemish masters like Van der Weyden, Hemling and Rubens as well as painters of the Italian Renaissance such as Raphael, Botticelli and Fra Angelico.
Among the masterpieces one should not miss seeing in the Prado are Velazquez' Las Meninas and Surrender at Breda, Goya's Majas (both the Naked and Clothed versions), Dos de Mayo (Second of May) and Tres de Maio (Third of May), Memling's Adoration of the Magi, Rubens' The Three Graces and Almedina's beautiful portrait of Santa Catalina.
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
This museum contains about 800 works collected by the late Baron and his father - one of the largest collections ever brought together in the private art world - which was acquired to put on public display by the Spanish government. This original collection was added to in 2004 by the late Baron's wife, Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza (a former Miss Spain) with more than 250 works from her own collection.
On view here are Zurburan and Titian, Sargent and Gainsborough, Durer and Holbein, Monet and Manet. Not to be missed are Le Nain's Young Musicians, Buonisegna's Christ and the Samaritan Woman, Ghilandaio 's Portrait of Giovanna Tornuoboni (said to be the late Baron's favourite) and Van der Weyden's picture of the Virgin Mary.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
Among the highlights of contemporary art displayed in this Museum - the refurbished former Hospital of San Carlos - is Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica, painted after the 1936 destruction of the Basque town of Guernica. This powerfully symbolic black and white painting graphically depicts the atrocities of war - another massacre of the innocents. On April 26th 1937 this city in the Basque region of Spain was bombed on the instructions of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War causing widespread destruction and civilian deaths. This was the first full scale use of Weapons of Mass Destruction on a civilian population - aerial bombardment by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe - and was a prelude to the large scale bombing of civilian populations that the British, Americans and Germans resorted to during the second world war.
Also in this museum are paintings by Horacio Ferrer and photographs by Robert Capa again poignantly drawing attention to the horrors of war.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
