Museo Reina Sofía

On most days you’ll need to buy a ticket to visit the museum. However, individual visitors can enter for free from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm on Sundays. Watch out though, since these free-entry periods can be busier than normal. You can also enter the museum for free all day on April 18, May 18 and 22, October 12, and December 6.

The single best-known painting in the Museo Reina Sofia is Guernica by Pablo Picasso. The painting combines elements of Christian art with cubism in a huge format and was painted by Picasso in 1937 following the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica. The airstrikes by the German Condor Legion and the Italian Truppe Volontarie are considered the first time a civilian population was deliberately bombed in order to cause terror, rather than to hit an important piece of infrastructure or a site of military significance. The exact number of casualties is unknown, estimates range from 153 to 1,654 deaths. The Nazis went on to use this method of air raids throughout their campaign in Europe. Picasso artistic response shows the horrors of war and is one of the best-known anti-war and anti-fascist paintings in existence.

There are several other must-see paintings in the collection including Joan Miró’s Painting (Man with a Pipe), Francis Bacon’s Lying Figure, and several different works by the master of surrealism, Salvador Dalí. The museum has over 20,000 pieces in its collection, so you might want to take a guided tour to make sure that you see all of the most important and most interesting works of art.

Even if you’re only planning to look at the museum’s highlights, you’ll need to spend at least two hours exploring. Due to its large size and the depth and quality of its collection, art-lovers can easily spend a whole day inside the Museo Reina Sofia. The official guided tours take between 20 minutes and two hours, depending on the version you choose, and you’ll probably want to plan in some time to explore independently after the tour ends.

The museum is home to two restaurants: Arzábal, which serves traditional Spanish food with an innovative twist, and NuBel, a bistro and cocktail bar. NuBel also offers brunch on Sundays, and their stew of the day costs a reasonable €7. In the summer months, you might prefer to bring your own food along and enjoy a picnic in the beautiful Retiro Park. Eating and drinking aren’t permitted in the exhibition rooms of the museum.

The Museo Reina Sofia has invested heavily in accessibility in recent years. The whole building can be accessed by wheelchair users, with staff spread around the building who can advise the best routes. Guide dogs and assistance dogs are permitted, although access is easier if you let the museum know in advance that you’ll be visiting with a trained assistance dog. A brochure containing visitor information is available in both braille and large print from the information desk. A Spanish Sign Language interpreter is available to interpret guided tours and other activities hosted by the museum, though you may need to contact the visitor services to request that they are present. The ticket desks and the information desk are fitted with induction loops for visitors with hearing aids. Individual audio guides can also be rented in Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, and a hearing loop that is compatible with the equipment can be borrowed without an extra charge. Visitors who are registered as disabled can visit the museum free of charge, as can one companion.