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Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

It is one of the world’s most prestigious art museums, yet a lot less well-known than the Tate or Louvre. Perhaps it’s because of the long name or its proximity to the more famous Prado, but it’s definitely not due to the collection. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid is home to major names in the art world such as Picasso, Miró and Dalí.

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Madrid, 스페인

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Joan Miró – Man with a Pipe (1925)

Miró’s martian

Many of the Mirós in the Reina Sofía date from his later years in the 1970s, when the Catalan master embraced the cheerful abstract style in primary colours. ‘Hombre con pipa’, on the other hand, is one of his early works. It is a surrealistic, almost hallucinogenic portrait in subdued shades with a stripe of red, depicting what appears to be an extra-terrestrial with saucer-shaped penetrating eyes and a pipe that is open to all kinds of interpretation.

Salvador Dalí – The Great Masturbator (1929)

Dalí’s ‘Great Masturbator’

This suggestive painting is only rarely discussed when teaching about the works of Dalí in school. A mass of rocks on Cap de Creus in Catalonia inspired the artist to paint a portrait of a naked woman, whose head is leaning towards the swollen crotch of a man with bloody knees. As with all works by Dalí, anything is possible and his subjects are distorted, tilted or upside-down. Nothing is what it appears to be, so that the viewer quickly becomes mesmerised.

Crowds gather at Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937)

Picasso’s nightmare

The undisputed highlight of the collection is the only work of art that always hangs in the same place, namely, in room 206 on the second floor. The giant Guernica by Picasso measures 3.5 by 7.8 metres and portrays the horrors of the bombing of Guernica in 1937, when Hitler destroyed the Basque city during the Spanish Civil War at the request of Franco. But don’t spend too much time looking at it because, even though it’s Picasso’s most famous work, it’s sure to give you nightmares.

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‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes is one of the most famous books in the world. The best way to learn more about this legendary Spanish writer is to visit his birthplace: Alcalá de Henares. The most important square is named after him and the house where Cervantes was born is now a museum. A bronze statue portrays the errant knight and his brave servant seated on a bench.

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The Palacio Real is one of the most popular attractions in Madrid. The largest royal palace in Europe has 870 windows, 240 balconies, 44 staircases and 2,800 rooms – big enough to spend an entire day exploring. But there are even more grandiose witnesses of the unbridled indulgence of the Spanish royal family around the capital.

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'If you can still remember it, you weren’t actually there.' This Madrid expression can only refer to one event: the cultural revolution that erupted after the death of General Francisco Franco. After almost 4 decades of a ruthless dictatorship, Spain was finally free. The capital of Spain celebrated this freedom with spontaneous street parties that grew into a cultural movement. Madrid was changed forever by the ‘Movida Madrileña’ (literally ‘the Madrid movement’).

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Public executions, bullfights and aristocratic duels: the rectangular Plaza Mayor has been the setting of almost every imaginable type of bloody ritual. Today it is a peaceful place, a square filled with shops and outdoor cafés. This is the beating heart of the oldest part of the city, the Madrid de los Austrias district, built in the 16th century by the Habsburgs.

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Barcelona, Paris and Vienna are renowned for their elegant grand cafés, where in days of yore the intelligentsia gathered to discuss literary masterpieces and current affairs over a good glass of wine. Madrid also had its fair share of grand cafés and some of these literary cafés have withstood the test of time in great style.

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Everybody knows that flamenco music and dance come from Spain, but the exact origin is unclear and even the name 'flamenco' is still a mystery. What we do know for a fact is that the ‘gitanos’ or gypsies played a role. In the Middle Ages, they imported flamenco from India. Later, the Moors, Jews, Africans, South Americans and Spaniards all left their mark on the dance.

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Madrid has a history that dates back several centuries. This is not only clear from the buildings in the city, but also from the pub culture. In addition to all the modern and trendy places that shoot up like mushrooms (and disappear again equally as fast), there are many historic pubs that are immune to trends. These are the places where, for centuries, the people of Madrid have been drinking a cold ‘cerveza’, often accompanied by delicious tapas.

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The Spanish Royal Palace in Madrid serves a function similar to that of the Palace on Dam Square in Amsterdam: the Royal Family does not live there but the building is used for official public affairs. Part of it is open to the public. This Baroque giant on the west side of the city has 2,800 rooms, making it the largest palace in Europe.