Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

About the museum

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando was inaugurated in 1752, during the reign of Ferdinand VI, and since 1773 it has occupied the Goyeneche Palace on Calle de Alcalá. José Benito Churriguera built the building between 1724 and 1725 as the townhouse of the Navarrese nobleman Juan de Goyeneche, and in 1775 Diego de Villanueva remodelled it to suit its new function. It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1971.

The Academy’s holdings were formed from works by its pupils and professors and from paintings from the Society of Jesus, which was expelled in 1769, and from the royal collections of Charles III. Over time, donations and acquisitions were added across more than two hundred and fifty years. When the Higher School of Fine Arts was integrated into the Complutense University in 1975, the Academy’s headquarters used its spaces to set up a museum.

After several years of works, between 1974 and 1983, the museum was officially opened in 1986 with thirty-five rooms on two floors. In 2002 it was extended with the twenty-four rooms of the third floor, an assembly hall and a visible storeroom of works.

Today it holds more than 1,400 paintings, hundreds of sculptures and some 15,000 drawings, as well as prints, tapestries, silverware, porcelain, clocks and furniture. Its fifty-nine rooms display masterpieces of Spanish, Italian and Flemish art from the Renaissance to the present day.

Highlights

• Rooms devoted to Goya and the Goya Cabinet
• The only painting by Arcimboldo preserved in Spain
• Works by Tintoretto, El Greco, Rubens, Ribera and Zurbarán
• Paintings by Sorolla, Zuloaga, Solana, Juan Gris and Picasso
• Goyeneche Palace, the work of Churriguera

Permanent exhibition

• Colección permanente – More than 1,400 paintings and a wide collection of sculpture, drawings and decorative arts in fifty-nine rooms, with works by Goya, Arcimboldo, El Greco, Rubens, Zurbarán and Sorolla.

Founded

1752

Operated by

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Director

Ramón González de Amezúa

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Free access to the permanent collection from Tuesday to Friday, excluding public holidays, from 13:30 to 15:00, and on 18 May, 12 October and 6 December.

General admission (€10) includes the museum, the Goya Cabinet and temporary exhibitions. Reduced and free rates, with accreditation, cover only the permanent collection. Free entry is also available to unemployed people, teaching staff, official tourist guides, journalists and museum professionals, among other groups.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

The museum is at Calle de Alcalá, 13, very close to Puerta del Sol.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Academy shop: Tuesday to Friday and Sundays 10:00–15:00, Saturdays 10:00–19:00; closed on Mondays.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Corporate events

Spaces for corporate events: assembly hall, Guitarte room, sculpture courtyard, skylight courtyard, column room, boardroom, and the lobby and museum rooms. Private visits to the museum and its workshops are also offered.

Plan your visit