A few metres away from each other, Goya’s, Velázquez’s and Picasso’s masterpieces welcome the visitors that come to Madrid from all over the world. Great museums and great artists are an essencial episode to understand Art History. Nowadays, not only painters, but also architects have found the best place for experimenting in our streets.
The Art Walk: Art Temples
Three of the most important art museums in the world are placed 5 minutes walk away from each other. The Art Walk, that’s what we like calling this area delimited by Prado Museum, Reina Sofia Art Centre National Museum (MNCARS) and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. The best art museum in the world, Prado Museum, offers the most comprehensive itinerary through Velázquez’s, Goya’s or El Greco’s pieces. In Reina Sofia, you can see Picasso’s Guernica and many of his masterpieces; it’s a tour through essencial pieces from the 19th to 21st centuries, an itinerary through artists such as Miró, Kandinsky, Dalí, Tàpies or Antonio López. At Thyssen you will find great pieces from the European Gothic and Renaissance to Hopper, Bacon or Freud.
Greatest artists: geniuses live here
The greatest geniuses from several different arts have lived in Madrid along history. Geniuses of painting such as Velázquez, Picasso, Goya or Dalí have lived in Madrid and have streets named after them. There are little details that remind us of their cultural legacy in our city. Also nowadays, some names show internationally the intense creative and cultural life of the city. Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz in cinema, and Plácido Domingo in music are examples of great ambassadors of the city of Madrid around the world.
New architecture: their signature
In the global context of large cities, contemporary architecture is one of the most shining stars. Creators of new icons to picture, the most important architects nowadays have developed emblematic projects in Madrid. Jean Nouvel and Rafael Moneo with their ampliations of Reina Sofía and Prado Museums, Norman Foster with the new Caja Madrid Tower, Álvaro Siza in Colón Tourism Centre and the reform of the Prado-Recoletos axis, the Herzog & Meuron studio with the CaixaForum, or Santiago Calatrava with the future Obelisk at Plaza de Castilla, are just some of the new buildings. The new architecture in Madrid will surprise you!
Creative impulse: art-to-be
Art is emerging on a new rising of independent culture in Madrid. After La Movida, the social-cultural movement of the 80′s in Madrid that set international trends, the city is starting a new “golden age” where many artists are starting to stand out nationally and internationally. The recovery of some central quarters is generating new places to develop creativity: Matadero Madrid, Complejo El Águila, Casa Encendida and hundreds of studios of those artists who have chosen Madrid as their workshop will be the base of the creative future in the next few years.
Music: the sound of the city
What’s the music of Madrid? Centuries of cultural evolution from the first arabic sounds, Baroque and folk created a base for musicians from all over the world. The Madrilenian musical essence is fusing with the new styles resounding through the city. The guitar, an icon of the Spanish music, is still the instrument that shows the best that union between the musician and his creation in Madrid. Discover the venues where you’ll be moved by the talent of the musicians who live in Madrid. Have a look at the music shops, choose an album as a present. The sound of Madrid will always be with you.
Cinema: Madrid as a filming set with three million actors
Setting, script, performance, industry, audience: Madrid loves cinema. Because it’s the main producer of Spanish cinema, because it’s the filming set of national and international films, because it’s the inspiration of Oscar-winning scripts, because it trains actors and directors, Madrid is especially attracted by the seventh art. Discover your favourite places from the films of Berlanga, Almodóvar, Amenábar or Álex de la Iglesia. In Madrid you’ll find those film spots to photograph or to find your inspiration.
Market: art at market price
Contemporary art, the most controversial one, the most discussed one, has a fixed schedule in the city. Madrid, crossroad of the national and international art, has always had an inspiration in its venues and in the works shown. ARCO and the rest of the annual fairs, the never-ending list of art galleries, the temporary exhibitions, the auctions… Madrid breathes art market. If you don’t know what to invest in, or if you’re looking for a very special present, you will surely find it in Madrid.
Books: footnote
Madrid is literature all around. This city was Cervantes’ home. Our language developed in a very small ensemble of streets, in the city centre, what we nowadays call Barrio de las Letras. Our most importat writers lived and wrote in these streets: apart from Cervantes, also Góngora, Quevedo, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca, Ramón de la Cruz or Jacinto Benavente, among others.
And also during the 20th century Madrid has buzzed with literature: Valle-Inclán, Gómez de la Serna, Umbral, Marías. Discover your favourite sports from your novels, buy a book and read it in a park, or sit at a traditional cafe and take paper and pen: you’ll surely find your inspiration. Or visit the most historical bookshops… or the most refined ones.
Contrasts: Madrid, avant-garde city?
Avant-garde cities. It seems like if there was a battle to be always the newest and most exclusive one. We want to be a open space to creation, a loyal city to its historical welcoming character, a place where artists find their inspiration. Nowadays, musicians, fashion designers, photographers and film directors are boosting Madrid internationally. In Madrid you’ll find the perfect atmosphere for art, an atmosphere of collaboration among arts based on centuries of history. But you can also enjoy some of the most important art works in history, housed in our museums: those works that everybody admires.
