If you leave the Prado feeling that something is missing, you are right: a collection assembled by kings has the gaps of their taste, and there you find few Italian primitives, little of the German Renaissance and no Impressionists at all. Cross the paseo del Prado: the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum grew out of another collection, a family’s, and it fills those gaps. Here you will find the only Van Eyck in Spain and the only surviving portrait of Henry VIII painted by Holbein himself.

On Mondays the museum opens only 12:00-16:00, but during those four hours the collection is free for everyone, with no ticket. On other days a full-price ticket costs 14 euros, and includes the temporary exhibitions.

How did the private collection of a baron who lived in Switzerland end up in Madrid?

Two barons and a collection

The collection was begun in The Hague, around 1928, by the first baron, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. In ten years he assembled most of his old masters, and the timing helped him: after the stock market crash of 1929 many European and American families were selling their masterpieces. In 1932 he bought Villa Favorita, on Lake Lugano.

the façade of the villahermosa palace, home of the thyssen-bornemisza museum in madrid, in red brick and pale stone, with small trees in large pots along its base

When he died in 1947, his children divided the pictures among themselves. The second baron, Hans Heinrich, spent years buying them back from his siblings, and added what his father, a man of more conservative taste, had left out: the Impressionists and modern art.

If the surname makes you think of Nazi Germany, keep one distinction in mind: the branch of the Thyssens that supported Hitler in his early days was Fritz Thyssen’s, not the Bornemiszas, who lived in Hungary, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Why Madrid

In the 1980s the baron was looking for a home for the collection, and offers came from all over Europe and the United States, including the Getty in Los Angeles. In 1985 he had married a Spaniard, Carmen Cervera, and it was she who drew him to the country.

Spain accepted his conditions, a museum bearing the family name and the collection kept together, and offered the Villahermosa palace on the paseo del Prado, refurbished by the architect Rafael Moneo. The museum opened on 8 October 1992 with the pictures on lease, and in June 1993 the state bought 775 works for 350 million dollars. In 2004 the museum was enlarged to show Carmen Cervera’s collection as well: you see it in the same galleries, but it is hers, and the museum holds it on loan.

The Italian 15th century

What is here that you won’t find at the Prado?

To begin with, a 15th-century Florentine profile portrait: the visit starts on the second floor, with the Italian Middle Ages, and works its way down towards the 20th century. Domenico Ghirlandaio painted Giovanna Tornabuoni in 1489-1490. Look at the Latin inscription on the cartouche behind her: at the end it carries a date, 1488, which is also the year Giovanna died; scholars believe the portrait was finished afterwards. Then look for the coral necklace hanging up and the book on the shelf.

the portrait of giovanna tornabuoni by ghirlandaio, a young woman in profile with her hair gathered up and a yellow and red dress, in front of a niche with an inscribed cartouche, a hanging coral necklace and a book

And then the painting at the top of this page, Vittore Carpaccio’s Young Knight in a Landscape, from around 1505. It is considered the first full-length, life-size portrait painted in Europe. The boy in armour stands in a meadow full of flowers and animals: take your time finding them.

The Northern Renaissance

If the Prado’s German Renaissance seemed thin to you, there is more of it here. Albrecht Dürer signed his Christ among the Doctors with a note that he had painted it in five days, in 1506. The boy Jesus is hemmed in by the doctors, almost all of them old men; look at the centre of the picture, where their hands intertwine with his.

christ among the doctors by durer, with the young jesus with long hair in the centre, surrounded by old men holding books, and the hands intertwined in the middle of the picture

Then there is Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger: it is the only surviving portrait of the king by Holbein’s own hand. The king is shown half-length, with his plumed hat and silver embroidered doublet: go closer to see the embroidery.

the portrait of henry viii by holbein, the king half-length in a black plumed hat, a silver doublet embroidered with black interlacing, golden sleeves and a gold chain, against a blue background

And there is the Van Eyck: the Annunciation Diptych. From a distance they will look to you like two stone statues in two niches: they are painted, in grey.

the annunciation diptych by jan van eyck, with the angel and the virgin painted as two grey stone statues inside two niches, and the dove above the virgin

Caravaggio

Caravaggio painted it in 1598: it is Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The saint kneels on a red cushion, beside the wooden wheel of her martyrdom, holding a sword.

The canvas was in Rome, in the Barberini palace. Around 1930 Mussolini’s government authorised its export, together with the Dürer Christ among the Doctors mentioned above: the two pictures went to Switzerland, and from there into the Thyssen collection.

saint catherine of alexandria by caravaggio, a young woman kneeling on a red cushion beside a broken wooden wheel, with a sword in her hand and a palm at her feet

From the Impressionists to the 20th century

And the Impressionists, who are missing from the Prado?

They are here, and nowhere else in the city. There are Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir and Pissarro, and Van Gogh, with Les Vessenots in Auvers, from 1890, the last year of his life.

les vessenots in auvers by van gogh, a green meadow dotted with yellow flowers in the foreground, houses with pale and red roofs behind and a blue sky in brushstrokes

As you go down, you find German Expressionism, the Russian avant-garde and American painting. Many 20th-century works are still in copyright: that is why you won’t find photographs of them here.

Practical information

Details checked on 30 October 2026 on the official website museothyssen.org. Prices and opening hours change: check again before you travel.

TicketsA full-price ticket costs 14 euros and covers the permanent collection and the temporary exhibitions. The reduced ticket costs 10 euros and is for visitors over 65, pensioners and students. The audio guide costs 5.50 euros extra. On Tiqets you will find the ticket for the Thyssen collection and exhibitions, at the same price as the official one. If you are also visiting the Prado and the Reina Sofía, the Paseo del Arte Card costs 32.80 euros on the museum’s website and from 40 on Tiqets.
Opening hoursFrom Tuesday to Sunday the museum is open 10:00-19:00; on Saturdays it stays open until 23:00. On Mondays it opens only 12:00-16:00. In July and August, from Tuesday to Friday, it closes at 21:00. On 24 and 31 December it opens 10:00-15:00.
ClosuresThe museum is closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
Free admissionOn Mondays, 12:00-16:00, the collection is free for everyone and you walk in without a ticket. On Saturdays, 21:00-23:00, the temporary exhibitions are free. Under-18s, the unemployed and people with a disability of 33% or more always get in free.
Getting thereThe museum is at paseo del Prado 8, on the plaza de Neptuno, across the paseo from the Prado.
How long it takesThe museum suggests about two and a half hours for the collection, and around fifty minutes more for the exhibition on the ground floor.
BookThe Thyssen-Bornemisza MuseumBook the Thyssen MuseumAffiliate links

For Spanish art and the great Venetians, the neighbour is the Prado Museum; for 20th-century Spanish art and Guernica, the Reina Sofía. And for another family collection there is the Liria Palace of the Dukes of Alba.

Photographs from Wikimedia Commons: the façade, by Luis García (Zaqarbal), CC BY-SA 3.0; the works are public domain reproductions.