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The Reina Sofia National Art museum (MNCARS)

Artworks by Dalí, Miró and Juan Gris hang alongside Picasso'sGuernicain a riveting survey of Spanish Art History

The museum aims to promote contemporary art with its collection, public library and a vast programme of shows, conferences, performances, projections and concerts. As a continuation of the Prado Museum, the MNCARS picks up where the former leaves off, displaying artworks from the late 19^thcentury to today. The Museum's programme features all types of artistic disciplines, set out in three collections.

The Irruption of the 20th Century. Utopia and Conflict (1900-1945)

In May 2009, museum director Manuel Borja Villel and chief curator Rosario Peiró opened the first part of the new museum plan. The section narrates the evolution of art between 1900 and 1945 as expressed through all forms of art: painting, sculpture and drawing, as well as photography, collage, sktetch and video.

The crossroads between the 19^th and 20^th centuries, between modernity and tradition, are represented perfectly in the museum by the art of Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa, José Gutiérrez Solana and Medardo Rosso. The museum's permanent collection also includes works by Julio González, Pablo Gargallo and Juan Gris, artists that favoured the European avant-garde movements alongside Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Sonia Delaunay and Francis Picabia, also part of the museum's collection. A collection of costumes for the Triadic ballet created in 1922 by Oskar Shlemmer, a teacher at the legendary Bauhaus art school, forms one of the most evocative pieces on display at the MNCARS.

Dalí, Miró and Picasso, the most influential Spanish artists of the 20^th century, form the backbone of the permanent collection. Throughout his long career, Pablo Picasso was painter, sculptor, ceramist, set designer, poet, playwright and director of the Prado Museum during the Civil War. As an essential member of the avant-garde, his chameleonic personality influenced all arts and styles. He was a Classicist, Primitivist and Cubist and was always fascinated by myths, the circus and bullfighting. One of his key artworks, El Guernica, is displayed in the MNCARS and could be described as a synthesis of the avant-garde movements. Put on display by the government of the Spanish Republic at the International Exhibition in Paris, the mural conveys the pain of the victims that were bombed in Guernica on April 27, 1937.

Joan Miró's artistic career started in the Mediterranean, set sail for Paris and at a later date returned to its origins. He would use the smallest elements -an insect, a poppy or a bird- to address major topics, like stars, Earth or humanity. The museum is home to a complete selection of his artworks, from notable examples of the more figurative period like House with Palm Tree to hermetic pieces like Bird in Space I.

Salvador Dalí correctly defined himself as a controversial and contradictory genius. He had a prodigious talent for drawing and throughout his career and became an increasingly bigger supporter of figuration. His art lives on in his creations, manifests, guest star appearances on television and his furniture and jewellery designs. Dali's universe achieved full poetic coherence for the first time in the painting The Great Masturbator, on show at the MNCARS.

Is the War Over? Art in a Divided World (1945-1968)

World War II put an end to the first avant-gardes of the artistic scene, as the second section of the museum explains. Creators shifted towards discourses that were more cryptic and existential. This context gave way to groups like El paso or Equipo 57, which disseminated Informalist language in Spain. Some of the artists that appeared during those times achieved great international acclaim, such as Antoni Tàpies, Jorge Oteiza and Esteban Vicente. This period can be better understood in the context of the European panorama, which is why the museum also displays works by such artists as Francis Bacon, Jean Dubuffet, Lucio Fontana, Henry Moore and Yves Klein. This part of the collection displays examples of Lettrism and Brazilian Concretism.

From Revolt to Postmodernity (1962-1982)

Since the 1970s, contemporary art has taken many different directions. Topics, forms and resources of today question the very nature of art. Critics, artists and spectators ask themselves "What is art?", as they contemplate many of the pieces on show at the museum. The third part of the museum's permanent collection reflects upon issues such as gender, underground culture, mass culture or globalisation. The Zaj group, Hélio Oiticica, Luis Gordillo, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Gerhard Richter, Pistoletto and Marcel Broodthaers are some of the representative authors the visitor will encounter in this final section of their tour around the museum.

The Building

The Former Madrid General Hospital, designed by Francisco Sabatini, became the Museum of Spanish Contemporary Art in 1992. Since then, the Reina Sofia National Museum has undergone several refurbishments to adapt the space to the growing collection and activities it hosts.

Jean Nouvel's extension was inaugurated in the middle of 2005. The auditorium, the library and the new galleries are independent areas that are housed under a large red canopy made of aluminium and zinc located behind the old Sabatini hospital. Without overshadowing any of the emblematic buildings in the area, the MNCARS has become a genuine symbol of modern Madrid, a dynamic construction that respectfully coexists with History.

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