Art lovers visiting Madrid for the first time can't skip the Prado, and the Reina Sofia and Thyssen-Bornemisza museums are musts too. But don't stop there! Over at CaixaForum, the staricase (pictured), designed by Herzog & de Meuron, literally elevates your exploration of this fascinating cultural center. Read on to find more places to discover Madrid's artistic offerings.
Article below by Regan Stephens from 10/28/2024 can found here.
Spain’s capital is home to a compelling mix of historic and of-the-moment art. This story is part of our guide to traveling in Madrid, created with support from Madrid.
At the entrance of the Rosewood Villa Magna in Madrid, sharply dressed bellmen and a bespectacled security guard welcome guests to the stylish Salamanca district. Arms crossed with a pensive expression, a peppering of chin stubble, and a key ring dangling from his leather belt, the guard seems so lifelike that travelers often say hello when they pass him. But the hyperrealist polyresin sculpture by Marc Sijan is just one work in Villa Magna’s playful, 380-piece art collection, which also showcases surrealist portraits by Spanish photographer Fares Micue and an expansive textile work by British artist Jacky Puzey. Once the site of a nineteenth-century palace, the 154-room hotel has become “a destination for cultural discovery and appreciation,” says managing director Friedrich von Schönburg.
Villa Magna’s eclectic art offers guests a glimpse into the Spanish capital’s rich tapestry of classical and cutting-edge pieces. A cultural hub for centuries, Madrid has fostered the Spanish masters – Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, and Dalí – whose works still draw visitors to the city’s “big three” museums. But a thriving contemporary art scene lures art lovers beyond the Prado, Reina Sofía, and Thyssen-Bornemisza to the new Opera Gallery and CaixaForum Madrid, and to year-round festivals and exhibitions.
The art fair ARCOmadrid, held each winter at the Feria de Madrid exhibition center, shapes trends in the global contemporary art market, drawing a mix of emerging and established working artists, international buyers, and enthusiasts. Around the same time, the Madrid Design Festival showcases graphic arts, interior design, architecture, and fashion with exhibitions, workshops, and panel discussions in venues around the city. One of the festival’s highlights this year was a collection of sculptures and collages by 20 local artists using fabrics from Spanish heritage textile brand Gancedo. The events provide insider access to Madrid’s diverse neighborhoods and offer visitors an opportunity to immerse themselves in Spain’s creative culture.
Each spring, Casa Decor sets trends in interior design and architecture, inviting established and up-and-coming designers and architects to reimagine spaces inside landmark Madrid buildings. In 2024, visitors explored the Palacio de la Trinidad, a stately early twentieth-century mansion reimagined with an outdoor kitchen, a sanctuary spa, and a pink bunker, among other spaces. The annual fall Open House Madrid allows a peek inside iconic, historic, or normally private buildings such as theaters, an airline hangar, and the brutalist Torres Blancas (White Towers), designed by Spanish architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza.
Year-round, visitors explore Madrid’s treasure trove of galleries in the Salamanca and Chueca districts. The new Opera Gallery shows modern and contemporary art, including Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s wilting flowers inspired by still-life paintings. Alzueta Gallery’s exhibits rotate monthly, featuring rising international and Spanish artists such as Santeri Lehto and Maria Yelletisch.
In the historic Palacio de Cibeles, CentroCentro once served as the headquarters for the city’s post office. Now it’s one of Madrid’s key cultural event spaces, offering a lineup of exhibitions, concerts and movie nights, as well as the Mirador Madrid observation deck, where visitors take in 360-degree views of the city. A few blocks away, the cultural center and museum CaixaForum Madrid occupies a former power station that’s been redesigned by famed architects Herzog & de Meuron with a striking vertical garden and scenic rooftop terrace.
Housed in the 1887 Palacio de la Equitativa in the heart of the city, the Four Seasons Hotel Madrid is home to nearly 1,500 artworks curated by Paloma Fernández-Iriondo. Along the Way, a towering, cartoonlike sculpture by American artist Kaws, stands in the lofty lobby alongside works by emerging Spanish artists, such as Eduardo Pérez-Cabrero’s Starry Night. The installation of more than 1,000 small brass spheres creates constellations above the original grand staircase, blending contemporary art with architectural legacy and exemplifying Madrid’s twenty-first-century aesthetic.
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