The Art Lover’s Triangle in Madrid

A Love Triangle can be a bad situation for all parties involved.  It’s something most of us like to avoid in real life and just experience through watching TV drama.  However, some good things can come in the form of triangles or threes!  Art, for instance.  In most cities, one good art museum can be inspiring to the Art Lover.  But Madrid has THREE!   Housing a trinity of the world’s finest collections, by great masters such as Van Gogh, Picasso and Kandinsky to name a few, Madrid’s “Golden Triangle of Art” has become known to many as “Paseo del Art” or “Art Walk.”  From the significance of the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza museums to the contemporary that is Reina Sofia, Madrid is home to over 4,000 important and historical pieces of art.  Visitors and art-enthusiasts can stroll along the 2 kilometer greened and fountained stretch that is the Art Walk.   And now, they’ve even added a guide and an app to help them get fully immersed into the Triangle!
The Prado Museum is perhaps Madrid’s most well-known.  The huge neoclassical main building hosts an awesome collection of royal art from the 15 to the 17 centuries, with works from the Spanish, Italian and Flemish schools.  One of the world’s first public museums, opening in 1819, it’s home to the works of Goya and Velázquez.  Its adjoining cube-shaped building, designed by contemporary architect Rafael Moneo, stages temporary exhibitions.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, in the Villahermosa Palace, just across from the Prado, opened in 1992.  Housing a collection started by Heinrich Thyssen in the 1920s, it exhibits the progression of European painting from the Middle Ages to the late 20^th century.  With works by Gaugin and Kandinsky, it also shows a fascinating variety of Impressionist art.

The Reina Sofia Museum, an essential part of the Triangle, first opened as a continuation of the Prado in 1990.  Home to artworks from the late nineteenth century to present day, it shows the works of masters such as Dali and Gris.  But its most precious jewel is, without a doubt, Picasso’s Guernica.

So, how do you manage the Art Lover’s Triangle?  With two partners, a GUIDE and an APP, of course!  Madrid’s Tourism Board has just made touring a “walk in the park” by launching a new guide and an app with a complete tour of Madrid’s History of Western Art, along with its 24 great masterpieces.   So download and get walking!  This is one Love Triangle you’ll want to be a part of!
 
If you are going – here are some hotels in the Art Walk area:
Only You hotel Atocha
NH Nacional
Radisson Blu Madrid Prado
NH Collection NH Madrid Paseo del Prado
The Ritz Madrid