An art insider’s guide to Madrid’s Golden Triangle

By Skye Sherwin

March 13, 2023

In search of artistic masterpieces? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s what to see at Madrid’s powerhouse museums.

Three behemoths of the museum world form Madrid’s Golden Triangle of Art: Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional. All three are moments away from Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid, along the tree-lined, UNESCO-listed Paseo del Prado. Between them, these museums provide a consummate trip through Western art history, peppered with its most significant creations, from Velázquez’ Las Meninas to Picasso’s Guernica.

Steps to the entrance of the Museo del Prado in Madrid

Museo Nacional del Prado

Spanning 8,600 paintings and 700 sculptures, the 200-year-old Prado is home to some of Europe’s greatest canonical art. Its treasures include Las Meninas, Velázquez’s much-analysed masterpiece of monarchs, mirrors, family life and courtly drama, along with Rubens’ sumptuous vision of mythology, overflowing with fleshy nymphs. Most famous of all, perhaps, are Goya’s so-called ‘Black Paintings’ – demonic murals exploring the chaos of the human condition, which have left many a visitor wobbly at the knees. Alongside these three big guns, you’ll find some of the most instantly recognisable paintings on the planet, including Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.

In the know For an insight into Goya’s genius, sign up for a themed three-day stay at the hotel, in collaboration with The Luminaire. It’ll take you from the cutting edge of art conservation to the archives of royal textile-makers, and the frescoed chapel where the artist lies buried (minus his missing skull).

Visitors admiring the sculpture outside the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

As the Reina Sofia’s architecture suggests, this is a museum dedicated to forward-looking art. Originally a hospital, the main, 18th-century building has been bolstered by three towering glass-and-steel lift shafts, added in 1989. Their flat planes were intended as an homage to the museum’s main attraction: Picasso’s great anti-war painting Guernica, a monochrome mass of body parts and agonised crying mouths. Rich in 20th-century Spanish art, the main collection traces modernism’s course, including Dali’s surrealism and Miro’s dancing abstractions. Jean Nouvel’s extraordinary 2005 expansions are another major draw – a gleaming red auditorium, bookshop and three-storey exhibition space. Equally impressive is the immense, triangular zinc and aluminium roof that protects the inner courtyard.

In the know For a pre-dinner art hit, the museum is free to visit between 7 and 9pm, except on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional

Welcome to the world-beating collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family. The museum offers a masterpiece-lined walk-through of European art history, from 13th-century Italian masters, hovering on the edge of the Renaissance, to playful Pop Art pieces. Every master, creative front-runner and beguiling outlier is here. From Lucas Cranach’s eerie nymphs to Hans Holbein’s luxuriant Tudors; Rembrandt’s soul-searching self-portraiture to Hopper’s cinematic vision, this place has it all and more. The collection is housed in the former Villahermosa Palace, handsomely reconfigured by architect Rafael Moneo, with marble floors, plenty of stucco, and galleries bathed in natural light. 

In the know Caravaggio’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria lingers in the mind, thanks to its sitter’s strangely contemporary charisma (in real life, she was a celebrated courtesan, who also posed for Caravaggio’s grisly masterpiece, Judith Beheading Holofernes).

About the Author

Skye Sherwin

Skye writes about arts and culture for a range of publications, including The Guardian and ArtReview.