The museum contains close to 1000 paintings, including 220 works of art from the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection that were added in 2004, taking you on a journey through the history of European painting from the thirteenth century right up to the late twentieth century. The paintings are displayed chronologically and by style, allowing visitors to follow the most important artistic movements of western painting, from Italian Primitive paintings to the late Surrealist period and the development of Pop art in the 1960s, together with the endurance of the figurative tradition in modern art.

The Museum’s collection acts as a counterpart to the other two museums that form the triangle known as the Paseo de Arte or Art Walk: it complements the collections of ancient artwork contained in the Prado Museum and twentieth century artwork housed in the Reina Sofía Museum, with additional movements and styles not included in these two museums, thus providing a more complete picture: Primitive Italian and Dutch painters, the German Renaissance, seventeenth century Dutch art, Impressionism, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction and Pop Art. It also has an outstanding collection of nineteenth century American art, which is practically unknown in Europe, to which the Museum dedicates four of its exhibition rooms.