The Cason del Buen Retiro is one of only two buildings that have survived the destruction of the Palacio del Buen Retiro, which takes its name.

Since 1971 is one of the buildings housing the Museo del Prado, and for decades it housed the collections of nineteenth-century paintings, some 3,000 paintings, as well as Guernica of Picasso. This famous painting was moved to Reina Sofia Museum in 1992, and Cason, after years of rebuilding, it reopened as a Center of Studies in 2009, while the collections of the nineteenth century are relocating headquarters del Prado, thanks to the new buildings designed by Rafael Moneo.