Where Madrid's art story picks up after the Prado leaves off — Spain's national museum of 20th and 21st-century art, built around one of the most important paintings of the last century.
Picasso's Guernica is the reason most visitors come — a monumental, harrowing response to the 1937 bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, and one of the most significant political artworks of the 20th century. It's displayed with room to actually take it in, alongside preparatory sketches that show how the composition evolved.
The Reina Sofía holds deep collections of Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró alongside Picasso, plus strong holdings of later 20th-century and contemporary Spanish and international art. The building itself is worth noting — a former 18th-century hospital, extended with striking glass-and-steel additions by architect Jean Nouvel.
2–3 hours covers the main collection without rushing; committed contemporary art fans can spend considerably longer given the scale of the permanent collection and rotating exhibitions.
Think of them as chronological neighbours rather than competitors: the Prado covers historic European painting up to the early 1900s; the Reina Sofía picks up from there. Visiting both on the same day is possible but ambitious — most visitors are better served splitting them across two mornings.
Part of the same "Paseo del Arte" cluster as the Prado and Thyssen-Bornemisza, a short walk from Atocha station — convenient to combine with arrival or departure by train.