Museums, Madrid

Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) captured inside his paintings all the light of the Mediterranean Sea as no other artist after or before him. While contemplating his coastal scenes, is impossible not to feel lost inside its radiant turquoise blues.

During his latter days, this Valencia born painter moved to Madrid, where he built the beautiful house that nowadays holds the mayor collection of his artistic works. Apart from the excellent paintings, the whole house has a clear Mediterranean charm. Admission cost 2,4 €.

This wonderful art gallery does not get the attention that it deserves. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is on the same intersection as the more famous Prado but does not get nearly as many visitors. This is a shame because it is probably the second best art gallery in Spain and one of the best private collections in the world.
The collection includes paintings from all the major eras of Western paintings significant periods but I found that it's 20th century collection particularly strong. If you spending enough time in Madrid then this museum is a must.

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Weird location for a museum, that's for sure!!
Under a busy bridge I was confused to find this open air museum. In fact, under the bridge you can see some sculptures (some good, some boring) of artists like A.Alfaro, J.Maria Subirachs, Am.Gabino etc. There is no entrance fee of course but it’s nice to visit if it happens to walk this part of Madrid (I was on my way to Sorolla museum)

address:Paseo de la Castellana,

Take metro to Ruben Dario station or buses 14, 27, 40

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Painter Sorolla used to live at this building that now houses the museum with his collection. It was great to visit the museum. First of all, the gardens outside are amazing (pic 1), great for some relaxing moments. Inside you can see some great paintings (most of them based on water themes but in general a peaceful feeling comes to me). There are many different thematic periods thoughts and his style changed a lot. He is famous for the impressionist landscapes. Some of the rooms are just like they used to be when Sorolla lived here.

There is a second small part of the museum with several items he had in his collection from travels etc.
The museum is closed on Mondays. The other days 9:30-15:00. The entrance fee is only 2.40euro, free on sundays

Address: paseo del General Martínez Campos, 37

if you take the metro stop at Ruben Dario or Gregorio Maranon

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The beautiful 3 floor mansion from the 19th century houses more than 5000 items that Jose Lazaro Galdiano(1862-1947) had in his collection. I didn’t know what was about so I was surprised looking at ancient items when I got inside in some of the rooms and then items from 20th century at other rooms. I got bored with the furniture items but some jewelry, royal seals, crystal from Limoges and ceramics were interesting to see. There are also paintings from Goya, Velazquez, El Greco and others. I also liked he beautiful murals of the ceilings.

Ok, most of the tourists prefer museums like Prado, Reina Sofia etc so here you will be almost alone with all the time and space to enjoy the collection. At least that’s what I did…
The library has dozens of books and magazines but I didn’t have time for that.

The museum is open Wednesday-Monday 10:00-16:30. It’s closed on Tuesday and the entrance fee is 4 euro.

The shop of the museum hasn’t anything interesting.

address:calle Serano 122

If you take the metro stop at Ruben Dario or Gregorio Maranon. You have to walk for 6 minutes. Also by buses 9, 12, 16, 19, 51

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The Juan March Institute is a modern building that houses a scientific center but from time to time several interesting art exhibitions take place here. They also publish books (more than 380). Even if there isn’t any temporary exhibition you can see the sculptures outside of the building.

It's located at calle de Castello 77. take metro to station Nunez de Balboa

La Casa Encendida is a social work project. It offers a great deal of exhibitions of different types, such as art, music, or cinema cycles. Also you can find many different work shops that can be very interesting... if you're staying in Madrid for a longer period of time! In any case it's a place that's worth visiting for its interesting exhibitions, which are in many cases free entrance.
Only one thing, the area where the Casa Encendida is in, is famous for its drug dealing... it's not the safest place in Madrid at night, so be careful! During the day it should be perfectly ok to be around the area, so don't let this put you off!

This museum keeps artefacts from Spanish colonial period. It has salons dedicated to several themes such as religion, society and communication. It keeps artefacts dating back from the pre-history. interesting is a Maya codex from the 16 th century. And there is tresures from the pre-collumbian times such as golden and silver objects.