Some of the art works have never been displayed before.
The entrance looks like the shopfront of a minimalist,high-end fashion brand:Armani,perhaps. Tall,narrow windows in close rows flood the interior with Spain’s blinding light. The ribbed ceilings,sharp angles and play of light in stairwells is fabulous.
Curators have resisted clutter. The museum supplies huge space across seven levels,but only 650 paintings and objects are on display,each exquisite,and seen to best advantage.
Tapestries,for example,are normally fusty affairs hung against dim castle walls,but here you see them artfully spotlit in a magnificent explosion of colourful medieval fantasy against a white background.
The Royal Collections Gallery has been a long time coming. It was first conceived in the 1930s and launched in 1998. Construction was delayed first by archaeological discoveries,then Spain’s financial crisis,then the pandemic.
Royal Collections Gallery,Madrid.
The opening of this €172 million ($286 million) gallery is a bold move,because it has considerable competition in one of the world’s leading art cities. The Prado has an unrivalled collection of paintings by the likes of El Greco and Spanish court painters Francisco Goya and Diego Velazquez.
The more contemporary Centro Reina Sofia features the ever-colourful and peculiar Juan Gris,Pablo Picasso,Salvador Dali and Joan Miro. Meanwhile Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza showcases European and American art.