Spain is one of the most visited countries in the world. It offers a great variety of scenery, monuments which may at first glance appear foreign to even central or northern Europeans, excellent gastronomy and many beaches and great weather This equation of tourist sights in Spain is completed with and lots of art. Today, many of the masterpieces can be enjoyed in Spain´s art museums spread all over the country and located not just in the top cities, but nearly everywhere. 

The Moorish influence from North Africa is unmistakable, especially, but not only, in the south. A native Spanish art developed under the influence of the Arabs and it was frequently blended with Romanesque and later with Gothic elements. Various architectural peculiarities emerged, and ornamentation was taken to degrees of extreme beauty. This also happened in paintings. Despite traits are shared with middle-European styles, there is certain luminosity and passion that distinguishes Spanish from, for example, Italian art.

If we look back at Spain’s Golden Age, culture thrived in Seville, Madrid, or Valladolid. This related not just to paint, but also literature and other domains of art. Religious subjects had a clear prominence. The church was the main patron of art and we should not forget that Spain had undergone seven centuries of reconquering process. Artists like Velazquez, El Greco or Ribera would alter the religious topics, bringing a new realism to the execution of their master pieces.

Painters like Picasso, Juan Gris or Dali, already in the XXth century, combined an astonishing inventiveness with even the macabre.

In this post we will share with you some of Spain´s most important art galleries. They cover all sorts of period and are allocated in many different cities and regions within Spain.