Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre
Spain
The museum is dedicated primarily to Spanish art and boasts impressive collections of the country's two greatest 20th-century artists, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Among its most famous artworks is Picasso's Guernica, created in 1937. With a vast collection and multiple galleries, the museum regularly hosts temporary exhibitions of both national and international significance, establishing its status as one of the world's largest modern and contemporary art museums. Although its 2021 attendance figures of 1,643,108 visitors saw a 32% increase from 2020, it fell short of 2019's numbers due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. It ranked eighth on the list of most-visited art museums globally in 2021.
Moreover, the museum provides access to a specialized art library with over 100,000 books, more than 3,500 sound recordings, and almost 1,000 videos, which are available to the public free of charge.
History
Hospital
The edifice stands on the location where the first General Hospital of Madrid was established. King Philip II gathered all the hospitals that were dispersed throughout the court. Insufficiency of the then-existing facilities in the city led King Ferdinand VI to decide on constructing a new hospital in the eighteenth century. Architect José de Hermosilla designed the building, and his successor Francisco Sabatini completed most of the work. Despite numerous construction delays, the building eventually commenced operation as a hospital in 1805, albeit only one-third of Sabatini's intended plan was executed. The building underwent several changes and expansions until its closure as a hospital in 1969.
Art museum
Starting in 1980, the old building underwent extensive modern renovations and additions. Originally an 18th-century hospital, the central building of the museum was transformed into the Centro del Arte (Art Centre) in 1986, before becoming the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 1988. In that year, some areas of the new museum were opened to the public, although mostly in temporary configurations. The Ministry of Culture designated it as a national museum in the same year. Then, in 1989, Ian Ritchie dramatically altered the museum's architectural identity by adding three glass circulation towers.
Expansion
In October 2005, an expansion designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel was opened, which cost €92 million and covered an area of 8,000 square meters (86,000 square feet). The expansion features several facilities, such as temporary exhibition spaces, a 500-seat auditorium, a 200-seat auditorium, a bookshop, restaurants, and administration offices. The auditoriums were equipped with scenographic equipment by ducks scéno, while acoustic studies were carried out by Arau Acustica.
Other
In Retiro Park, the Crystal Palace and Velázquez Palace are two other venues frequently used by Reina Sofía to hold various exhibitions.
Collection
The main focus of the museum is Spanish art, with notable collections of works by two of Spain's most prominent 20th-century artists, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Among the museum's most famous pieces is Picasso's painting "Guernica." The Reina Sofía collection also features pieces by other esteemed Spanish artists such as Joan Miró, Eduardo Chillida, Pablo Gargallo, Julio González, Luis Gordillo, Juan Gris, José Gutiérrez Solana, Lucio Muñoz, Jorge Oteiza, Julio Romero de Torres, Pablo Serrano, and Antoni Tàpies.
In addition to Spanish art, the museum's collection also includes a variety of international works. Artists represented in the collection include Francis Bacon, Joseph Beuys, Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Robert Delaunay, Max Ernst, Lucio Fontana, Sarah Grilo, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Yves Klein, Fernand Léger, Jacques Lipchitz, René Magritte, Henry Moore, Bruce Nauman, Gabriel Orozco, Nam June Paik, Man Ray, Diego Rivera, Mark Rothko, Julian Schnabel, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Clyfford Still, Yves Tanguy, and Wolf Vostell.