The Museo

The institution: full information and history 

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, located in Madrid, is among the foremost institutions devoted to modern and contemporary art on a national and international stage. Since opening its doors in 1990, the Museo has become established as a benchmark space for the conservation, research and dissemination of artistic heritage from the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries, and with an approach that is diverse and inclusive. Its emblematic building, the former Hospital de San Carlos, alloys historical architecture and contemporary design on account of the extension carried out by Jean Nouvel.

The management of the Museo is headed by Manuel Segade, who has driven forward a programme that is committed to the interdisciplinary dialogue and exploration of historical and present-day narratives from multiple perspectives. Under his leadership, the Reina Sofía continues to be an engine of critical thought, integrating global voices and stimulating an active relationship with society. Salient among its Collection is Pablo Picasso’s iconic painting Guernica, along with works by Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Maruja Mallo and other pivotal figures in contemporary art.   

The Reina Sofía not only safeguards and exhibits valuable artistic heritage. It also organises pertinent temporary exhibitions, education activities, seminars and cultural programmes which all work to enrich the visitor experience. Moreover, with a cutting-edge library and documentation centre, the Museo enhances its standing as a space of encounter, knowledge and innovation in the art world. Its mission is to serve as a bridge between past and present, thereby generating new ways to understand art and society.    

Museo Reina Sofía
Palacio de Cristal en el Parque del Retiro
Palacio de Velázquez en el Parque del Retiro

Mission

The Museo Reina Sofía is a public institution with the objective of producing narratives on the cultures of modernity and their impacts in the twentieth century and enabling society to gain access to present-day art; that is, to its potential for transformation and radical imagination.

While the traditional museum is made for the eye — for the contemplative gaze as an intellectual organ — the contemporary museum is conceived for the entire body, whereby any visitor possesses an awareness before works which implore them to move around the rooms or appeal to different forms of desire. Contemporary art museums do not simply become feminist or concerned with themes of gender or with ethnic, racial or economic diversity; they do not suddenly turn their interests towards specific social demands. Rather, these themes and issues are at the heart of the artistic practices that define their institutional subject, not object. The Museo has been assembled as part of the material conditions of equality, for these constituted the framework of the history of ideas and subjectivity which has given rise to the emergence of artistic practices within the contemporary system, the origins of which stretch back to the 1960s — concurrent with feminism’s second wave and its impact on the visual arts, with the birth of performance, the Stonewall riots, the class revolution of May ’68, with the final independence secured for countries under European colonial empires. Consequently, the body is a core element in the Museo: a political construction, a space of intersectional critique, a space to personally experience art, a place of social and collective experience.

Details and institutional information

Economic data, General Action Plan, Recruitment and Activity Report

The Museo’s architecture

Fachada del Edificio Sabatini, Museo Reina Sofía

The Museo Reina Sofía blends the historic and the contemporary by virtue of its two main buildings. The Sabatini Building, neoclassical in style, is an eighteenth-century structure which originally operated as a hospital. In 2005, it was joined by the modern Nouvel Building, designed by architect Jean Nouvel. This expansion, with its steel-and-glass structure, contrasts with the Sabatini Building’s classical appearance, giving rise to a unique architectural balance in the heart of Madrid. Both spaces, along with the Retiro Park galleries, offer a consummate space to exhibit contemporary art.

Renting Spaces

Unique Spaces to Hold Events

Una cena en la sala de protocolo del Museo Reina Sofía

History

When the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía was unveiled in 1990, a modern and contemporary art museum came into being in Spain that was international in scope; however, before coming to fruition as such, the building had undergone numerous transitions.    

The initial founding of Hospital San Carlos, the site of today’s Museo Reina Sofía, was decided by Philip II, who, in the sixteenth century, centralised hospitals in the same place which had hitherto been scattered around the Court. Afterwards, in the seventeenth century, Charles III opted for a new configuration, believing that the existing facilities were proving insufficient for the city. Today’s building is the product of designs by José de Hermosilla and Francisco Sabatini, particularly by the latter of the two, who was behind much of the work.

Imagen antigua del Museo Reina Sofía

Sustainability

The Museo Reina Sofía's 2025-2030 Sustainable Development Plan is a long-term planning tool that reflects the institution's commitment to addressing the climate emergency and the economic and energy crisis, as declared by the Agreement of the Council of Ministers in Spain in January 2020. 

Its courses of action take into account the strategies laid out in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN's 2030 Agenda, as well as national and international regulations on sustainability. 

This plan marks a turning point not only for the museum, but also its environment and users, in terms of our commitment to making a better world, one that is kinder and more inhabitable for present and future generations. 

The Museo Reina Sofía's 2025-2030 Sustainable Development Plan is a comprehensive document prepared by the Architecture, Sustainable Development, and General Services Department, and incorporating courses of action from other areas of the museum. 

The first implemented actions revolve around the three main areas (environmental, social, and economic): 
 

Energy efficiency Specific actions such as performing an energy audit and calculating our carbon footprint, and separate initiatives focused on production systems and the consumption of passive energy (such as the installation of thermal insulation and the fitting of light control filters) and active energy (including the introduction of renewable energy sources, the installation of LED lighting, and the replacement of existing air conditioning equipment with more efficient models). 

 Reduction of pollution and waste generation Work undertaken to encourage recycling, reduce paper consumption, digitize processes, promote the use of public transport by staff, incorporate electric vehicle use into new contracts, and reuse material for exhibition installations. 

Responsible consumption of natural resources Focus on controlling and reducing water consumption (with the introduction of low-consumption toilets and reusing rainwater to water the gardens and flush toilets) and contracting companies with sustainability certificates for the services they offer.  

Organisational chart

The Museo Reina Sofía comprises a diverse structure of teams that work in collaboration to carry out its Mission. These comprise curators, who are tasked with organising exhibitions and preserving the Collection; conservators-restorers, who work to ensure the good condition of artworks; and education teams, who develop programmes for the public. The Museo is also structured around departments of research, archive, cultural management and communication — teams which, with the visitor assistance staff, guarantee the full and dynamic operation of the institution.

Management

Deputy Artistic Management

Studies Management

Deputy Management

Institutional Cabinet Management

Communications Management

List of Job Positions (RPT) 

The List of Job Positions (RPT in its Spanish acronym) is a technical instrument through which Spain’s Public Authorities organises staff.  

The RPTs are regulated in Articles 15 and 16 of Law 30/1984 of 2 August, on measures to reform the Civil Service, and in Article 74 of the Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, by which the Consolidated Text of the Law of the Basic Public Employment Statute is approved.  

The RPTs reflect the situation of job positions at the time in which data has been extracted to be presented. Therefore, the information it contains may be obsolete owing to frequent variations to job vacancies, particularly in that related to positions held at a given time.    

Advisory Committees

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía’s Advisory Board is the advisory body to the Museo’s director in art-related areas, acting as the link between the Museo and different local, national and international agents from the art system. Its recommendations and proposals are non-binding.

The Advisory Board is made up of pre-eminent independent experts with a broad professional background. Their mandate is for two years, which can be renewed for successive periods without a limit.

The members of the Advisory Board carry out their roles in a personal capacity, and under no circumstances does their appointment involve a work or commercial relationship with the Museo.

  • Advisory Committee
    María de Corral 
    João Fernandes
    Amanda de la Garza
    Inés Katzenstein
    Chus Martínez
    Gloria Moure
    Vicente Todolí
  • Architecture Advisory Committee
    Juan Herreros
    Andrés Jaque
    Marina Otero Verzier

Board of Trustees

Governing bodies

The Museo Reina Sofía’s Board of Trustees is the governing body which supervises and supports the management of the institution. Made up of experts from the world of art and culture and institutional representatives, it works to guarantee the fulfilment of the Museo’s objectives. Moreover, the Board contributes to the strategic planning, acquisition of works and the development of cultural programmes, thereby ensuring sustainability and the long-term growth of the Museo.

Chairman of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

  • Ernest Urtasun Domènech (Minister of Culture)

Director of the Museo

  • Manuel Segade

Board of Trustees

  • Honorary Presidency
    Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain
  • President
    Ángeles González-Sinde Reig
  • Vicepresident
    Beatriz Corredor Sierra
  • Ex Officio Trustees
    Jordi Martí Grau (Secretary of State of Culture)
    María del Carmen Páez Soria (Under Secretary of Culture)
    María José Gualda Romero (State Secretary for Budgets and Expenditure)
    María Ángeles Albert de León (General Director of Fine Arts)
    Manuel Segade (Director of the Museo)
    Julián González Cid (Deputy Managing Director of the Museum)
    Tomasa Hernández Martín (Councillor to the Education, Culture and Sport of the Government of Aragón)
    Carmen Teresa Olmedo Pedroche (Regional Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha)
    Horacio Umpierrez Sánchez (Member of the Government and Regional Deputy Minister of Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands)
    Pilar Lladó Arburúa (President of the Foundation Amigos del Museo Reina Sofía)
  • Elective Trustees
    Pedro Argüelles Salaverría 
    Ignacio Garralda Ruiz de Velasco (Fundación Mutua Madrileña) 
    Juan-Miguel Hernández León 
    Antonio Huertas Mejías (Fundación Mapfre) 
    Carlos Lamela de Vargas 
    Rafael Mateu de Ros 
    Marta Ortega Pérez (Inditex) 
    Suhanya Raffel 
    María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop 
    Joan Subirats Humet 
    Ana María Pilar Vallés Blasco
  • Honorary Trustees
    Pilar Citoler Carilla 
    Guillermo de la Dehesa 
    Óscar Fanjul 
    Ricardo Martí-Fluxá 
    Claude Ruiz Picasso † 
    Carlos Solchaga Catalán
  • Secretary of Board of Trustees
    Rocío Ruiz Vara

Standing Commission

  • Ángeles González-Sinde Reig (President of Board of Trustees) 
  • Beatriz Corredor Sierra (Vice-president of Board of Trustees)
  • Jordi Martí Grau (Secretary of State of Culture)
  • María del Carmen Páez Soria (Under Secretary of Culture)
  • Manuel Segade Lodeiro (Director of the Museo)
  • Julián González Cid (Deputy Managing Director of the Museo)
  • Ignacio Garralda Ruiz de Velasco (Mutua Madrileña Foundation)
  • Rafael Mateu de Ros (Ramón y Cajal Lawyers)
  • Rocío Ruiz Vara (Secretary of Board of Trustees)

Contact

You can contact the Board of Trustees by email at patronato@museoreinasofia.es

Legislation

Consult all the legislation

Employment, Internships and Recruitment Calls 

Vista de un despacho del Museo Reina Sofía, fotografiado por Marco Godoy, 2019
Marco Godoy
Iris invertido, 2019

The Museo Reina Sofía’s Employment, Internships and Recruitment Calls section offers opportunities to work, learn and participate in the sphere of contemporary art. In this section you can find open calls for job positions, internship programmes for young professionals and artists, and recruitment calls related to artistic creation. Visit this page regularly to keep up to date with the latest opportunities and to become part of the Museo’s dynamic community.

Contact

Deputy Artistic Management

 

Studies Management

Institutional Cabinet Management

Communications Management

Deputy Artistic Management

 

Studies Management

Institutional Cabinet Management

Communications Management

Follow the Museo’s latest activities on social media

Complaint and Suggestion Forms

Visitors may submit a complaint or suggestion or give positive feedback on the services rendered by the Museo, in accordance with Royal Decree 951/2005, of 29 July, in the following ways:

In person: at the Nouvel Building information desks and Palacio de Velázquez gallery.

Online: by email, including the digital signature of the individual concerned, at quejasysugerencias@museoreinasofia.es and the electronic office sede electrónica del Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

By post: sending a signed letter to the following address: Museo Reina Sofía. Complaints and Suggestions. Calle Santa Isabel 52, 28012 Madrid. Spain.

Adress

Calle Santa Isabel, 52 
28012 Madrid 
Tel. (+34) 91 774 1000