Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum 🇪🇸

Located in Madrid, Spain, near the Prado Museum on a main boulevard, the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (or simply the Thyssen) forms part of the city's famed "Golden Triangle of Art" alongside the Prado and the Reina Sofía national galleries. When you visit, you will discover an extraordinary repository that bridges the historical gaps between its neighboring institutions. The museum fills the Prado's gaps with Italian primitives and English, Dutch, and German schools, while complementing the Reina Sofía with Impressionists, Expressionists, and 20th-century European and American paintings.

Originating in the 1920s as a private collection started by Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and later expanded by his son Hans Heinrich, it spans eight centuries of European painting. Housed in salmon pink-walled interiors, the collection contains over 1,600 paintings featuring remarkable works across various movements. As you walk through its galleries, you can admire early Italian, Flemish, and Dutch masterpieces, Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo treasures, and North American art from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Additionally, you will see 19th-century European creations, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist canvases, German Expressionist pieces, and modern 20th-century masterworks, offering you a unique, rich journey through centuries of world-class art history.

What to see at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

• Eight centuries of European painting bridging historical gaps between the Prado and Reina Sofía.
• Early Italian, Flemish, and Dutch works, including van Eyck's Diptych of the Annunciation.
• Masterpieces by Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo painters such as Dürer, Holbein, Titian, and Caravaggio.
• Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and modern art by Monet, Degas, van Gogh, Picasso, and Hopper.
• An extensive selection of German Expressionism alongside 18th- and 19th-century North American paintings.

Visiting tips

Take time to admire the distinctive salmon pink tone of the museum's interior walls, which was personally selected by the Baroness.

How long: 2-3 hours · Best time: Morning

How to get there & what’s nearby

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is easy to reach on Madrid’s public transport, and pairs naturally with Royal Palace of Madrid and El Retiro Park. For where to stay, the weather and full itineraries, see our Madrid travel guide.