Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Museum

Address: Calle de Santa Isabel, 52, 28012 Madrid, Spain

Website: https://www.museoreinasofia.es/

Hours: Tue-Sat 10am-9pm; Sun 10am-7pm; closed Mondays (check website for variations).

Admission: General admission €10-€15; reduced rates for youth/seniors and free entry on certain nights (check website for current prices).

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Spain’s national museum for 20th-century and contemporary art, located in Madrid near the Atocha rail station. The museum was established as a national institution in the late 20th century and occupies a converted 18th-century hospital building with contemporary additions.

Its permanent collection focuses on modern and contemporary Spanish and international art, with strong holdings in the early to mid-20th century and works by major Spanish artists. The museum also presents temporary exhibitions, installations and performance programmes.

The core museum project converted and extended the former Hospital of San Carlos into gallery space and the institution opened to the public as a national museum in the early 1990s. Subsequent building adaptations and new galleries expanded its exhibition capacity.

The Reina Sofía sits on the Paseo del Prado/Atocha axis in central Madrid, adjacent to the Atocha station and within Madrid’s main museum district alongside the Prado and Thyssen museums.

• National modern art collection: The museum is Spain’s national museum of 20th-century art and holds one of the nation’s most important modern art collections.
• Guernica: Pablo Picasso’s Guernica is a central work in the collection and is displayed in a dedicated gallery within the museum.

What to See#

• Guernica Room: A purpose-built gallery and viewing space created to display Pablo Picasso’s Guernica alongside related studies and works from the same period.

The Reina Sofía is a short walk from Atocha train station (Renfe) and is well served by metro lines (Atocha station on Line 1). Buses and taxis are plentiful in the area.

• Buy timed tickets for special exhibitions to avoid long queues.
• Visit late afternoon to catch quieter galleries and good light in the central courtyard.
• The Reina Sofía is near Atocha station - combine a museum visit with a stroll through the Atocha tropical garden.