(Madrid) Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía ★★★★

C. de Sta. Isabel, 52, 28012 Madrid, Spain
https://www.museoreinasofia.es/
Monday : 10AM–9PM
Tuesday : Closed
Wednesday ~ Saturday : 10AM–9PM
Sunday : 10AM–2:30PM

 

One of the best art museum in Madrid. It is free from 19:00 on Mondays. Guernica by Pablo Picasso is most popular.

2022-09-05 MON

I have thought that there are more valuable activities such as sitting at a cafe than visiting museums, unless I have longer vacation. However, I've changed my mind and decided to check out art works if it is one of the so-called masterpieces, especially it is free like 19~21PM in Museum Reina Sofia.

But I still didn't want to wait in a long queue. Luckily, our hotel, SLEEP'N Atocha is in the very next block, so I could check how it was. I arrived around 18:30 and there were only 30~40 people waiting. Left queue is for the ones to need receive the ticket (you still need the ticket though it's free.), and the right queue is for the ones who made reservations online in advance. While I was on the left queue, I tried to search the online reservation but failed. However the entrance fee is 10 EUR, so it is still not that expensive.

Once the ticket office is open, you just enter and receive the free ticket. I'm not sure why this is necessary, but probably it is for counting guests or some other reasons. Thus, the left queue goes as fast as the right queue, but it seemed that right queue proceeded before the ticket office is open.

Once you go through the entrance, there is a calm and nice park inside the rectangle-with-a-hole shaped building. You may take a rest when tired from walking around.

The most famous painting here, Picasso's Guernica is located on the 2nd floor, so I took the elevator. On the 1st floor, there is staff renting audio guides. No sign for costs, so I assumed it's free but it turned out not. I had only 2 hours so I just moved on.

The elevator itself is quite amusing, since the walls were transparent.

The room 205, where Guernica is exhibited is no-photo area. However, there always people who tried to take photos every 3 minutes even though the staff keep warning. There are professional photos on the internet, so it is just useless you make your own amateur version. Please spend time enjoying the art with your own eyes. Talking about Guernica, I don't have much knowledge in arts but I still could feel something intense from it, partly because it is very big, which I think is effective way to deliver the message, and also because of the way he expressed the people suffering from the the Spanish civil war.

Millet's Architectonic Angelus (1933) by Salvador Dali

Well, there reason why I took these photos were to check out the title and painter of some art works I liked during the visit.

The Invisible Man (1929~1932) by Salvador Dali

I think Dali is genius and crazy at the same time.

Portrait (1925) by Salvador Dali (1925)

He also left sentimental paintings, which was impressive.

I didn't have time to check out all the rooms, so I left a little early for dinner. There were still guests coming around 20:15. I think it's another wise option if you want to spend an hour without waiting. 

back to Madrid (2022)