Madrid: See Uffizi Paintings Free

Art exhibitions, film screenings and concerts have a new venue in Madrid, opening with a free exhibit from the Uffizi Gallery, including works never shown outside Italy.

Madrid’s 1899 electrical power station has opened as CaixaForum Madrid, after a $96 million restoration that transforms it into an art gallery, concert hall, cinema and conference venue. The long-awaited cultural center begins life with a big bang, showing 45 works from a Uffizi exhibit, many of which have never before left Italy.

Paintings by artists including Botticelli, Giordano, Parmigianino and Signorelli will be on display for the opening, and the exhibit is free. The 45 paintings form the Pan de los Ángeles (Bread of Angels) exhibit, one of three featured in the opening.

The building itself is a work of art, designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, turning a rare example of early 20th-century industrial architecture in Madrid’s historical center into a modern complex that quintuples its size, while preserving its integrity.

The cast-iron and brick Central Eléctrica del Mediodía has been transformed into an innovative “sculptural” building over a new public square. One façade features a 5,000-square-foot vertical “garden” by by botanist Patrick Blanc, with 15,000 plants representing 250 different species.

CaixaForum Madrid is part of Madrid’s Paseo del Arte (Art Walk), close to the Museo del Prado, the Thyssen Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía, each of which has been greatly expanded in the past few years.

CaixaForum Madrid is at 36 Paseo del Prado.