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Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

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LenR
LenR
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4 out of 5
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Centro Reina Sofia Museum

  • February 8, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by LenR from Townsville, Australia
Centro Reina Sofia Museum

The Reina Sofía National Museum Art Centre was inaugurated September 1992, by King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofía. Perhaps it was the transferring of Picasso´s "Guernica" to the Reina Sofía for its permanent collection, which was the decisive milestone in it now being considered one of the most important contemporary art museums in the world.

The building which houses the collection was designed in the 18th century by the architect Francisco Sabatini and was built as a hospital. At one point, it was the object of urban planning which included its demolition. In 1977, after much debate, this was declared an artistic historic monument.

Its geographical situation - beside the Atocha roundabout, opposite the botanical gardens and close to the Prado Museum - makes this building an ideal headquarters for a national museum, however extensive work was necessary to turn it into such a complex. The most obvious external change are the two glass elevator towers grafted onto the building.

The museum’s permanent collection is housed on two floors, the second and fourth. The reason for this separation is conceptual - to differentiate the vanguard artists of the early 20th century, from the contemporary works, from 1939 until today.

The move of the Picasso painting from the Prado remains controversial - Picasso had explicitly stated his desire that the Guernica be exhibited in the Prado and although its present room in the Reina Sofía was expressly built for the work, there are often complaints about the difficulty in seeing the painting in its entirety, even though it is no longer behind a bullet-proof glass shield. The room in which it is kept lacks depth, and some say it forces the viewer to see it either too close up or from too far away. The are also complaints about poor lighting in the room which houses the preliminary work, which are said to have been better displayed in their previous home. I personally was not worried by either problem.

I must confess that the Picasso work overshadowed everything else in the gallery but then I am not a great fan of contemporary art. The permanent collection in the Reina Sofía is almost exclusively made up of Spanish art from the 20th century, with works by many of the most important artists (Picasso, Miró, Oteiza, Julio González, Tapies, Equipo Crónica, Gerardo Rueda) but with a notable absence of many others.

The building itself, the central patio, with its superb mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder, the library, the book shop and the cafeteria all contribute to making the Reina Sofía a museum/art centre well worth visiting.

From journal Madrid's Art Precinct

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