GoTourist
The Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid

No. 44 Top 100 Most Visited Art Museums 2025 · 1,601,732 visitors in 2025

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (main site)

Madrid, Spain · City guide: Madrid

Spain's national museum of modern art in Madrid, home of Picasso's Guernica and works by Dalí and Miró.

Open in Maps Apple Maps

Photo: Omer Toledano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Overview

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is No. 44 in The Art Newspaper's survey of the world's most visited art museums, with 1,601,732 visitors in 2025 at its main site, up 4% on 2024. Spain's national museum of modern and contemporary art is one of the three great museums of Madrid's Paseo del Arte, with the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Its main building is an 18th-century former hospital designed by Francesco Sabatini, with glass lift towers added on the facade; an extension by Jean Nouvel opened in 2005. The museum also runs exhibition spaces in Retiro Park.

A temporary exhibition gallery in the Museo Reina Sofía
A temporary exhibition gallery in the Museo Reina Sofía. Photo: Joseolgon, CC BY 4.0, source

Best time to visit

Weekday mornings are the quietest. The free-entry periods are busy. The museum is closed on Tuesdays.

Highlights & collections

  • 1

    Guernica

    Pablo Picasso's monumental 1937 painting, in Room 205.10, with its preparatory studies alongside.

  • 2

    Salvador Dalí

    Paintings including Figure at a Window (1925).

  • 3

    Joan Miró

    Paintings and sculpture by the Catalan artist.

  • 4

    Nouvel building

    The red-roofed extension around a courtyard, with exhibitions, a library and a café.

  • 5

    Palacio de Cristal

    A 19th-century glass pavilion in Retiro Park used for installations, free to visit.

Getting there

The museum is on Calle de Santa Isabel, opposite Atocha station. The nearest metro station is Estación del Arte (Line 1).

Visiting tips

Tickets & hours
Buy tickets online or at the museum. Entry is free at set times on most days; check the official website for current free hours, prices and opening hours.
Time needed
Two to three hours.
Currency
Euro (EUR). Cards, including contactless, are accepted almost everywhere.
Visa & entry
Spain is in the Schengen Area. Many visitors, including citizens of the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa. The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) now records non-EU travellers' entries and exits at the border, and the ETIAS travel authorisation is due to follow. Check the official EU site travel-europe.europa.eu and your own government's travel advice before you go.

Official information: Museo Reina Sofía (official website). Check opening hours, prices and entry rules there before you go.

Map

Open in Maps View larger map Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors