Many consider Madrid to be the center of the Spanish art scene. New and old, private and public galleries are sprinkled throughout the city. There are two annual art festivals. The ARCO is held in February and is a huge art showcase and market that takes place in the Feria de Madrid trade fair site. The number of galleries varies from year to year but there is sure to be a broad representation of the international art market. The second yearly art event is the “art supermarket” run by the gallery American Prints. The market runs from late November to mid January and presents works from about 80 artists. Some are well-known names, but the talent includes new artists too.

Madrid is home to three of the finest museums in the world – the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía National Museum. The Prado is found along a tree-lined boulevard in the city and contains the world’s best collection of Spanish paintings. It was converted from a natural history museum to a museum for the Spanish royal art collection in 1819. The museum boasts over 7,000 works by artists such as Diego de Velázquez and Francisco de Goya, as well as works by Italian, Flemish, German, French, and English artists. The museum requires much more than one day to fully explore, and fewer than half of the collection is on display at any one time.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum opened in 1992 and is regarded by many as the most important private collection in the world. It provides a perfect complement and contrast to the nearby Prado. The museum contains paintings from the German Renaissance and Dutch paintings from the 17th century. There are also works from Impressionism, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, geometric abstraction, and pop art. The collections range in style and offer a variety of work that is usually difficult to see in one place. A full tour takes at least two hours.

The cultural center of Reina Sofía is home to a permanent collection of Spanish contemporary art. The collection includes art by Picasso, Juan Gris, Miró, Dalí, Chillida, and others. There is also a wide variety of temporary exhibits. The highlight of the museum is Picasso’s Guernica, which can be found on the second floor.