Museo Helga de Alvear

What makes it special

The collection fills a new building by Tuñón Arquitectos, white reinforced concrete pillars set on the line where the old town meets the modern city. The holding runs to more than 3,000 works, and the galleries show a selection of its most representative pieces. The older modernist house beside it, the Casa Grande, was restored first and now takes the temporary exhibitions.

Look first for a giant yellow chandelier frame lying on the floor as if it had fallen. Its 60,000 red crystals were sewn on one by one.

Another work answers Velázquez's Las Meninas, and one large installation takes over about 80 square metres of a single floor. The full set of Goya's Caprichos hangs here too, as facsimiles.

Two pieces are easy to pass without a second look. One panel is covered in scratches: visitors marked it at an earlier show, and the artist liked the result enough to let later visitors carry on. The figures of Louise Bourgeois's The Family are the ones that appear in Almodóvar's film The Skin I Live In.

Visiting

Before the galleries, sort out your ticket. You can book a slot on the museum's website, which it recommends to be sure of a place, or get one at the ticket office on arrival.

Ask at reception for a locker if you are carrying a bag, then work up through the floors. QR codes on the walls beside most works give a free audio explanation on your phone or tablet, so bring headphones.

Afterwards, walk the garden and the open passage between the two entrances, which need no ticket. Temporary exhibitions in the Casa Grande are entered from Calle Pizarro 8.

Guided or on your own

The museum runs guided tours with a Spanish-speaking guide, and on Sunday mornings they are free. Take one if contemporary art is new to you. A guide changes how you read the quieter works, such as Ángela de la Cruz's Transfer with arm-chair (Brown).

Tips

Photographs are allowed, but leave the flash off and the tripod or selfie stick behind. Food and plants cannot come in, and only assistance dogs are admitted.

Bring a light layer in summer too. The museum adjusts indoor temperature and humidity to conditions outside, and it recommends a jacket or jumper. Children under ten must stay with an adult throughout.