Currently on display (through May 25, 2003) is a temporary exhibit "Musical Analogies: Kandinsky and his contemporaries" in the basement, which shows works of Kandinsky, Kupka, Klee, Delaunay, von Jawlensky to name just a few, and the exhibit shows that music was the model of the abstract art development and influence of various methods in musical composition on the rhythm and color of their works.
Prices:
Permanent collection 4.80€–adults, 3€–students
Combined ticket for the permanent collection and temporary exhibit 6.60€–adult, 3.60€–student
If you are staying in Madrid just for a day, you have to visit Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. It is located across the street from Museo del Prado in the 18th century villa and considered the most important privately-assembled art collection in the world, which I really have to agree with.
The collection is truly enormous and it is best to start on the 2nd floor and work your way down to the basement -- this way you will start with the early Renaissance and follow the art through Baroque, Rococo, Realism to the 20th century modern. You can also the paintings of the founders of the museum, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza.
If you visit Prado first, this collection will be like a great addition to what you’ve just seen. You start with the Italian icons of the 14-15th centuries, then move on to the early Gothic paintings of Van Eyck, della Robbia’s beautiful porcelain statues. The collection of Dutch masters includes works by Memling, van Cleve, and Holbein’s famous portrait of Henry VIII. Next, we see the Italian Renaissance with works by Pietro della Francesca, Rafael, Corregio, Veronese, and Strozzi. Carpaccio’s "Young knight in a landscape" is considered a symbol of this museum and is shown on the cover of all the catalogs. The German school is represented by works of Durer and Cranach the Elder, the most beautiful of which is Cranach’s "Reclining nymph". In other rooms you will find paintings by Murillo, Tiepolo, Teniers, Brueghel, Van Dyck, 4 Rubens paintings the most interesting of which is "The toilet of Venus", Van Loo, Rembrandt’s "Self-portrait", Bronzino, and Titian’s "Portrait of Doge Francesco Venier". You can also see portraits by Holbein and views of Venice by Canaletto.
The first floor has a large collection of 17th-century Dutch paintings that show scenes of daily life, interiors, and landscapes including Metsu, de Hooch, and Teniers, which are really missing from Prado collection.
Continued in Part II
Paseo del Prado, 8
Phone: 91 369 01 51
Open: Tues–Sun 10am–7pm, closed on Mondays, May 1.
No photography allowed.
There is a large bookshop on the main floor to the right of the main entrance.