Reina Sofía Highlights: 9 Must-See Masterpieces

Painted in 1901 during Picasso's Blue Period, this melancholic portrait captures a moment of profound introspection. A woman sits alone, wrapped in blue tones that convey isolation and contemplation. Picasso was only 20 years old and deeply affected by the suicide of his friend Carles Casagemas. The monochromatic blue palette became his way of expressing grief, poverty, and human vulnerability. This work marks the beginning of Picasso's journey toward becoming the most influential artist of the 20th century.

Painted in 1929 when Santos was just 18 years old, this haunting work depicts mysterious figures gathered around a table in an eerie, dreamlike space. The pale, ghost-like characters seem suspended between reality and fantasy, creating an unsettling atmosphere. Santos was a prodigy whose surrealist vision emerged fully formed at a remarkably young age. The painting captures the intellectual gatherings common in 1920s Spain while infusing them with psychological depth and mystery. It's a masterpiece of Spanish avant-garde art and remains one of the most enigmatic works in the collection.

Created in 1914, this Cubist masterpiece demonstrates Gris's systematic approach to fragmenting and reconstructing reality. An anis bottle, newspaper fragments, and a guitar are broken into geometric planes and reassembled in a carefully balanced composition. Unlike Picasso's more intuitive Cubism, Gris worked with mathematical precision and harmonious color. The Spanish anis bottle references his Madrid origins while working in Paris. Gris believed Cubism should be "flat, colored architecture," and this painting perfectly embodies his disciplined, architectural approach to the revolutionary style.

Painted in 1914, this Cubist still life deconstructs a simple café scene into overlapping planes of muted browns, grays, and blacks. Playing cards and dice float across the canvas, their forms fractured and reassembled. Braque co-invented Cubism with Picasso, and this work shows his more restrained, analytical approach. He often incorporated stenciled letters and wood-grain patterns, bringing everyday materials into high art. The painting captures the café culture of early 20th-century Paris while revolutionizing how we perceive space and form on a flat canvas.

This monumental 1929 painting is one of the most ambitious works by an 18-year-old artist in history. Santos creates a vast, apocalyptic landscape filled with mysterious figures, strange architecture, and surreal imagery spanning over two meters. Skeletons, nuns, and faceless beings populate a desolate terrain under a turbulent sky. The work combines childlike directness with profound existential anxiety, predating many Surrealist themes. When exhibited in 1930, critics were stunned that such a mature, complex vision came from a teenager. It remains one of the most powerful Spanish avant-garde paintings of the interwar period.

Painted in the 1920s, this Cubist portrait shows Blanchard's unique approach to the style – more lyrical and humanistic than her male contemporaries. A woman holds a fan, her form fragmented into geometric planes but retaining warmth and personality. Blanchard, who had a spinal deformity, faced discrimination but became a central figure in Parisian avant-garde circles. Her Cubism balances structural rigor with emotional sensitivity. The painting demonstrates how she transformed the typically austere Cubist aesthetic into something more intimate and accessible, earning recognition as one of Spain's most important early modernists.

Painted in 1929, this disturbing and hypnotic work represents Dalí's breakthrough into full Surrealism. A grotesque, melting profile dominates the canvas – part human, part landscape, part sexual fantasy. Grasshoppers, ants, and distorted bodies merge in a hallucinatory vision drawn from Dalí's anxieties and obsessions. The painting emerged during his passionate affair with Gala, who would become his wife and muse. Dalí's meticulous technique renders impossible dreams with photographic precision. This work established him as Surrealism's most provocative voice and shocked audiences with its frank exploration of sexuality and the unconscious mind.

Created in 1936 as the Spanish Civil War began, this painting shows Miró's signature style of biomorphic forms and celestial symbols. A simplified woman and dog stand before a large moon against a dark background, rendered in Miró's playful yet profound visual language. The minimalist composition uses bold colors and organic shapes that seem to float weightlessly. Despite its apparent simplicity, the work carries undertones of anxiety from the war engulfing Spain. Miró believed in painting's ability to transcend political turmoil through poetic abstraction, creating a universal visual language accessible to all.

Picasso's monumental 1937 masterpiece is the 20th century's most powerful anti-war statement. Painted in response to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, the massive canvas (3.5 x 7.8 meters) depicts the chaos and suffering of violence through fragmented bodies, screaming figures, and a dying horse. Working in stark black, white, and gray, Picasso created a timeless symbol of civilian suffering in warfare. The bull, the light bulb, the mother holding her dead child – each element carries layers of meaning. It's the crown jewel of the Reina Sofía and one of the most important paintings in the world.