Best Small Museum in Madrid

Sorolla Museum / Museo Sorolla

08/10/11 - General Martínez Campos, 37

In the early twentieth century, the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla lived and worked in house number 37, General Martinez Campos Street.  His paintings are full of light, accessible and beautiful but not bland—the kind almost no one but the most snobbish modernist would object to hanging in their home.  Sorolla was successful during his lifetime, and most of his subjects—the beach, lovely women and children, quaint locals, landscapes—are crowd-pleasers.  

One large canvas, “Mother and Baby” is an expanse of cool, billowing serenity.  Aside from the paintings, the house itself is worth the visit.  The first floor is still furnished as Sorolla left it, with the artist's studio and his inviting day-bed.  

The artist's studio

 

The Sorolla Museum also has a lovely garden based on designs from the Alhambra.  

The museum is just right for my burgeoning homeopathic experiment. S1 and S2 are ages 15 and 12, and just beginning to build up their tolerance for rooms full of paintings. Their only comment was that Sorolla seemed to like painting naked little boys on the beach.  It’s early days yet.