The Paseo del Arte is the route that links the three crown jewels of Madrid’s splendid collection of art galleries: The Prado, Reina Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornomisza.
The Prado is one of the greatest art galleries win the world, with more than 7,000 paintings in its collection, including works by the medieval, renaissance, and romantic-era European masters such as Botticelli, Titian, Rembrandt, Goya, and Velasquez.
The Reina Sofia National Art Centre Museum is dedicated to 20th century Spanish art, including works by Dali, Miro, and Picasso. The star of the museum’s collection is Picasso’s massive black and white mural Guernica, which depicts the horrific bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by German planes during the Spanish civil war.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum houses a smaller but still impressive collection in a restored 18th-century palace. The collection includes works from all the major periods of Western painting from the 13th to the 20th centuries, including masterpieces by Caravaggio, Rubens, Dali, Monet, and Picasso.