ON THE TRAIL
Prado Museum
As the leading art institution in Spain, the Museo Nacional del Prado has pride of place in Madrid’ s Golden Art Triangle. Its neoclassical headquarters— designed in 1785— reflect the grandeur of the collection, which covers European art between the 12th and 19th centuries. There’ s a statue of Diego Velazquez at the western entrance and many visitors make a beeline for Las Meninas( 1656), his baroque masterpiece that hangs in a characteristically ethereal gallery. Other highlights include Caravaggio’ s David and Goliath, Goya’ s Saturn Devouring His Son and Hieronymus Bosch’ s allegorical triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.
National Archaeological Museum
Founded by royal decree in 1867 as a repository for the Spanish monarchs’ vast treasuries, Museo Arqueológico Nacional offers visitors a deep dive into the history of the Iberian Peninsula and broader Mediterranean. Its permanent galleries were customdesigned a decade ago to accommodate the 13,000-plus objects, which range from Roman mosaics and Visigoth coinage to Egyptian sarcophagi and Mudéjar stonework. Don’ t miss the iconic Lady of Elche, a 4th-century BCE limestone bust that was unearthed in southeast Spain. In the forecourt, a replica of the Cave of Altamira features vivid recreations of paleolithic paintings. illustrations: Lis watkins
Reina Sofía
This museum picks up where the Prado leaves off, surveying abstract, surrealist and impressionist art from the 20th century. The collection celebrates the contemporary Spanish masters who were inspired by Velázquez, with Pablo Picasso’ s Guernica( 1937), a wall-sized epic that depicts the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró and Juan Gris— plus their international contemporaries Francis Bacon, Vassily Kandinsky and Yves Klein— are also represented. Inaugurated in 1992, the Reina Sofía’ s original gallery( once a 16th-century hospital) is flanked by modern glass elevators, while a 32-foot-tall aluminum sculpture, Brushstroke by Roy Lichtenstein, stands proudly in a courtyard that bridges the new and old wings.
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