The Prado in Madrid has one of the great collections in Europe, but don't miss the remarkable MNAC — it's filled with Catalonian art, most remarkably the 1000-year-old Romanesque frescoes removed from churches in remote regions for protection.
Rogier van der Weyden, The Descent from the Cross
Van der Weyden captures grieving bodies with meticulousness and compositional rhythm.
Pablo Picasso, Guernica
Paintings of this size had historically exalted war, but this one suggests that war is anything but heroic.
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights
Dreamlike, imaginative, and inexplicable, Bosch's landscape confounds our expectations of Christian art of the Renaissance.
Diego Velázquez, Portrait of Sebastián de Morra
The compelling immediacy of Sebastián de Morra’s gaze has long struck viewers as noteworthy.
Anthonis Mor, Portrait of Mary Tudor
Queen of England and Ireland, Mary I's courage, iron will, and brutal impatience are captured in this likeness.
Vicente Albán, Quito series
Vicente Albán’s series of paintings seeks to define Quito’s population as distinct racial types, all set against a lush natural landscape.
Juan de Pareja, The Calling of Saint Matthew
An extraordinary statement of freedom, Pareja includes his self-portrait in this famous biblical narrative.
Gil de Siloé, façade of San Gregorio, Valladolid
The entrance to San Gregorio epitomizes some of the inventive, complex architectural forms present on the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century
The Painted Apse of Sant Climent, Taüll, with Christ in Majesty
Since the Middle Ages, the wall paintings from Sant Climent, Taull have dazzled, enchanted, and captured the imaginations of visitors from across the world.
The Mosque of Bāb al-Mardūm (the Church of Santa Cruz), Toledo
The Mosque of Bāb al-Mardūm—and its conversion into a church—embodies the multi-religious reality of medieval Spain.
Colony of Augusta Emerita, Mérida
The colony of Augusta Emerita, which became present-day Mérida in Estremadura, was founded in 25 B.C. at the end of the Spanish Campaign and was the capital of Lusitania.
