{"id":2547,"date":"2014-11-08T21:26:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T21:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:47:10","slug":"real-academia-de-bellas-artes-de-san-fernando-madrid-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/articles\/real-academia-de-bellas-artes-de-san-fernando-madrid-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando is Spain’s royal academy of fine arts and, at the same address, one of Madrid’s main art museums. It stands at Calle de Alcal\u00e1, 13, in the centre of the city. This post covers the history of the academy and its building, the highlights of the museum, and the opening hours and ticket prices published in 2026.<\/p>\n

The academy and its history<\/h2>\n

The idea of a royal academy of arts in Madrid goes back to 1726, when the painter Antonio Mel\u00e9ndez proposed one to Felipe V. It took shape with the Italian sculptor Domenico Olivieri: a preparatory board (Junta Preparatoria) approved by the king began work in 1744, and the academy itself was created by royal decree of 12 April 1752, in the reign of Fernando VI.<\/p>\n

For more than two centuries the academy was also a school. Its main task was to teach drawing, sculpture and painting to young artists, and it awarded prizes and grants for study abroad, usually in Italy. Goya was a member from 1780. The teaching side ended when the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes was incorporated into the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1975, later becoming its Facultad de Bellas Artes.<\/p>\n

Today the academy is one of the eight royal academies of national scope that form the Instituto de Espa\u00f1a. According to the academy<\/a>, it has fifty-six full members drawn from architecture, painting, sculpture, music, cinema, graphic art, photography, design and art history. Its stated purpose is to promote artistic creativity and the study, dissemination and protection of the arts and cultural heritage.<\/p>\n

The building on Calle de Alcal\u00e1<\/h2>\n

The academy first met in the Casa de la Panader\u00eda and soon ran out of room. In 1773 it bought the palace on Calle de Alcal\u00e1 that Jos\u00e9 Benito de Churriguera had built in 1720 as the residence of Juan de Goyeneche, a minister and financier of the time of Felipe V. The architect and academician Diego de Villanueva stripped the Baroque ornament from the fa\u00e7ade and gave it a Neoclassical look, with a Doric doorway.<\/p>\n

By order of Carlos III the upper floors housed the royal cabinet of natural history, and the two institutions shared the building<\/a> until the end of the 19th century. A Latin inscription on the main balcony still records that the king brought nature and art together under one roof in 1774.<\/p>\n

The museum<\/h2>\n

After several years of alterations the museum was officially opened in 1986, and it was enlarged in 2002. It now has fifty-nine rooms on three floors. The academy gives the size of the collection as more than 1,400 paintings, 600 sculptures and 15,000 drawings, together with decorative arts such as tapestries, silver, ceramics, clocks and furniture. The works run from the Renaissance to the 21st century, with Spanish, Italian and Flemish art at the centre.<\/p>\n

Highlights of the permanent collection<\/a> include:<\/p>\n