Last June, Madrid debuted the long-awaited Royal Collections Gallery, an $186 million cultural complex housing five centuries’ worth of treasures amassed by Spain’s monarchy. It’s the jewel in the crown of the Spanish capital, where travellers have their pick of world-class museums like the Museo Nacional del Prado and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía showcasing masterworks by the likes of Goya, El Greco and Picasso. 

While these heavyweight institutions continue to draw the crowds, visitors are increasingly carving out time to discover Madrid’s modern treasures, too. From dozens of contemporary galleries to hot-ticket art fairs like ARCOmadrid, which enters its 43rd year in 2024, the city has long had a vibrant contemporary art scene, notes independent art consultant and curator Juliana Sorondo, previously of Alzueta Gallery. But in recent years, she says, a new creative energy can be felt on its streets – luring serious collectors and art-loving travellers alike. 

“Today, there’s a mix of established Spanish and foreign galleries and plenty of up-and-coming spaces championing young artists,” she notes, adding that the city’s economic boom has also helped bolster the arts scene. “Now, Madrid is becoming an international cultural capital.”

Click "EXPAND" to peek inside Alzueta Gallery

Sorondo singles out the Arte Madrid gallery association as a cornerstone of the local community. Since its founding in 2000, the organisation has facilitated regular exhibitions and cultural initiatives, the most popular being the Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend, which kicks off the city’s contemporary art season each autumn. The collective has ballooned to more than 50 galleries including pioneers like Galería Ehrhardt Flórez, Galería Elvira González and Galería Helga de Alvear. In November, one of the organization’s most historic member institutions, Galería Juana de Aizpuru, announced its closure after a half-century. Its owner, 90-year-old Spanish art world legend Juana de Aizpuru, has organised exhibitions on Spanish painter Miquel Barceló, German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans and Peruvian artist Sandra Gamarra (who will represent Spain at the 2024 Venice Biennale), among others; she also founded the ARCOmadrid, now one of the world’s best attended art fairs. 

As old guard institutions fade, a new generation of galleries is coming to town. Many newcomers hail not from afar, but other parts of Spain. In 2021, the Barcelona-based Alzueta Gallery opened a location in Madrid’s tony Justicia neighbourhood. The bright, airy space is currently hosting a show on Catalan artist Enrich R, who is known for his abstract, minimalist paintings. Around the corner is Badr el Jundi, the Malaga-born gallery that inaugurated its Madrid space with a colourful exhibition by Tarragona artist Iván Forcadell. 

Galería Helga de Alvear

International artists are getting plenty of visibility, too. In 2018, French property developer Christian Bourdais and Eva Albarran, a Madrid-born producer of cultural and artistic events, opened Albarrán Bourdais in Justicia. The soaring 800sq m space is an inspired setting for large-scale installations by artists such as Colombia’s Iván Argote and Switzerland’s Claudia Comte. (That said, it’s hard to beat the gallery’s open-air exhibitions at the couple’s Solo Houses project, in Aragon, a collection of holiday homes designed by world-famous architects such as Sou Fujimoto.)

Meanwhile, French-Algerian gallerist Sabrina Amrani runs a pair of galleries focused on artists from the “global south”, including Malagasy artist Joël Andrianomearisoa and Tunisian photographer and filmmaker Nicène Kossentini. In addition to being an active member of the Madrid arts scene, Amrani is also a regular fixture on the international art fair circuit, regularly appearing at Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Dubai. 

El Chico

Described by its founder, Javier Aparicio, as a “podcast with a space”, El Chico is an artistic labratory where a younger generation of Spanish artists gather to share their work and engage in cross-cultural research and dialogue. Audiences can get a taste by tuning into the podcast, which features artist-hosted episodes with themes ranging from intellectual property to art criticism.

While not new, Matadero has endured as one of the city’s most exciting cultural centres. Housed inside an old slaughterhouse across the river from central Madrid, the 5,500sq m institution features a vast collection of cutting-edge contemporary artwork – photography, music, film, digital media, avant-garde dance and theatre, and more. Against a backdrop of neo-Moorish architecture, contemporary art has never seemed so edgy.

Matadero