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Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum: the history of painting in one palace

The Prado has the Spanish kings' taste and the Reina Sofía the twentieth century. The Thyssen fills the gaps between them, and it does so in order: you start at the top with gold-ground Italians and walk downstairs to Pop Art.

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Tickets
From €14
Open
Tue to Sun from 10:00, Mon 12:00 to 16:00
Closed
1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec
Allow
2 to 3½ hours

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    What to see at the Thyssen

    1. Giovanna Tornabuoni

      Domenico Ghirlandaio's profile portrait of a young Florentine bride of 1488, against a dark niche with her prayer book and a line of Martial. The baron bought it from the collection of J. P. Morgan.

    2. Holbein's Henry VIII

      The small portrait of the king in his mid-forties, in a jewelled doublet: the only painted portrait of him by Holbein's own hand to survive.

    3. Van Eyck and the Flemish

      Jan van Eyck's Annunciation painted to look like two carved stone statues, and the Netherlandish portraits around it.

    4. Caravaggio and Carpaccio

      Caravaggio's Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the broken wheel, and Carpaccio's Young Knight in a Landscape, one of the first full-length portraits in Italian painting.

    5. Impressionists and Van Gogh

      Monet, Renoir, Degas's Swaying Dancer and Van Gogh's Les Vessenots in Auvers, painted in the last weeks of his life.

    6. The Americans

      The museum is strong where Spain is not: Winslow Homer, the Hudson River painters and Edward Hopper's Hotel Room, near the end of the route.

    Tickets and tours for the Thyssen

    • Sold by GetYourGuide

      Madrid: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza Entry Ticket

      Entry to the Thyssen's permanent collection and its exhibitions, on the day you choose.

      Included

      • Entry to the Thyssen's collection
      • Entry to its exhibitions

      From

      €14

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    Visiting the Thyssen: hours and admission

    Opening hours

    Monday
    12:00 to 16:00, the collection only
    Tuesday to Friday, and Sunday
    10:00 to 19:00
    Saturday
    10:00 to 23:00, some rooms only after 21:00
    • These are the hours from 1 September to 30 June. In July and August the museum stays open until 21:00 from Tuesday to Friday.
    • On 24 and 31 December it opens from 10:00 to 15:00. Closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
    • Works from the collection are often lent to exhibitions elsewhere, and a painting may be away.

    Who gets in free

    • Everyone, to the permanent collection, on Mondays from 12:00 to 16:00.
    • Everyone, on Saturdays from 21:00 to 23:00, to the rooms the museum keeps open then.
    • Under-18s, every day.

    Getting there

    Metro
    Banco de España (line 2), five minutes on foot.
    On foot
    The museum is on the Plaza de Neptuno, across the Paseo del Prado from the Prado and ten minutes from the Puerta del Sol.
    By car
    The centre of Madrid is a low-emission zone, and parking in it is scarce and paid. Leave the car outside.

    Address

    Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
    Paseo del Prado 8
    28014 Madrid, Spain

    Entrances

    The entrance is through the garden of the Palacio de Villahermosa, from the Paseo del Prado at the corner of the Carrera de San Jerónimo. The ticket office, the cloakroom and the shop are on the ground floor, and lifts take you up to the second floor, where the route begins.

    On the map

    Before you go

    • Take the lift to the second floor and walk down. The route is in order of date.
    • The permanent collection is free on Mondays, when the museum opens only from midday into the afternoon. On Saturday nights some of the exhibitions are free.
    • The Art Walk pass covers one visit each to the Thyssen, the Prado and the Reina Sofía within a year.
    • The Prado is across the Plaza de Neptuno, so the two can be seen on the same day, with lunch between them.
    • Two and a half hours is enough for the collection. Allow more for an exhibition.

    Two barons' collection, sold to Spain

    Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza began collecting in the 1920s, buying old masters from American millionaires ruined by the Depression. His son Hans Heinrich bought on, from Gothic panels to Lucian Freud, until the family had one of the largest private collections in the world.

    When the city of Lugano refused to let him enlarge his museum there, the baron, encouraged by his Spanish wife Carmen Cervera, brought the core of it to Madrid. The museum opened in the Palacio de Villahermosa in 1992, and the Spanish state bought the collection the following year.

    The rooms run in order of date from the second floor down. It is the one museum in Madrid where you can follow the whole history of European painting, with the Americans at the end.

    Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum: common questions

    What are the opening hours of the Thyssen?
    Monday: 12:00 to 16:00, the collection only. Tuesday to Friday, and Sunday: 10:00 to 19:00. Saturday: 10:00 to 23:00, some rooms only after 21:00. These are the hours from 1 September to 30 June. In July and August the museum stays open until 21:00 from Tuesday to Friday. On 24 and 31 December it opens from 10:00 to 15:00. Closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Works from the collection are often lent to exhibitions elsewhere, and a painting may be away.
    Is the Thyssen ever free?
    Everyone, to the permanent collection, on Mondays from 12:00 to 16:00. Everyone, on Saturdays from 21:00 to 23:00, to the rooms the museum keeps open then. Under-18s, every day.
    What does the ticket include?
    Entry to the Thyssen's collection. Entry to its exhibitions. It is sold by GetYourGuide.
    What is the Thyssen famous for?
    For the range of its collection, from the thirteenth century to the late twentieth, hung in order of date. Its best-known pictures include Ghirlandaio's Giovanna Tornabuoni, Holbein's Henry VIII, Caravaggio's Saint Catherine and Van Gogh's Les Vessenots in Auvers.
    Is the Thyssen museum free on Mondays?
    Yes. On Mondays the permanent collection opens for a few hours around midday, and entry is free. The times are on the museum's own site.
    Should you see the Thyssen or the Prado?
    Both if you can: they are across the road from each other. The Prado is deeper in Spanish, Italian and Flemish painting, and the Thyssen covers what it lacks, the Dutch, the Impressionists and the twentieth century.

    What visitors say about the Thyssen

    Rating from Google

    4.7

    48,499 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 17 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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