Madrid’s Reina Sofia museum acquires hundreds of works to diversify its collection

This article was first published by The Art Newspaper.

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain’s museum of 20th-century art, has expanded its collection with 470 new works in a demonstration of its commitment to gender balance and racial diversity. More than half of the acquisitions are by women and a significant proportion by artists from under-represented ethnic backgrounds. Many are by promising young artists whose works are yet to enter art history books.

Around 100 of the works were bought by the museum over the course of last year, with Spain’s culture ministry providing almost 140 pieces, and nearly 160 donated by galleries, artists and collectors. The Reina Sofía Museum Foundation, which aims to promote cultural partnerships and public participation in the museum’s work, provided a further 80 works, most of them donations. The acquisitions amount to a total investment of almost €8m.

The new intake comes ahead of the planned inauguration of an updated permanent display in March 2026 illustrating the history of art from the late 1970s to the present day. “We are preparing new narratives,” Manuel Segade, the museum’s director, tells The Art Newspaper. “This requires new art histories to be told in different ways, so it was the perfect moment to include a lot of younger artists and less common figures.”