Madrid Culture: When the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía opened its doors in 1990, it stood as one of the greatest and most modern art galleries in the world. Before achieving this important distinction, however, the building housing its Collection passed through a long series of transformations.
The Collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía boasts works produced from the late 19th century to the present day. Nowadays, the institution has over 20,000 artworks that include every kind of artistic technique: approximately 4,000 paintings, over 1,400 sculptures, nearly 3,000 drawings, more than 7,000 prints, over 3,000 photographs, around 160 single-channel videos and 40 video installations, more than 100 decorative arts pieces and 30 architectural creations. Of this vast repertoire, only certain selected works are displayed as part of the permanent collection. The museum collection currently serves as a channel through which flows the account of Spanish artistic modernity and its interaction with the discourses and practices that are defining art in the international sphere, conceiving this account as a critical space where the paths of museum and society converge.
