Prado museum, officially the Museo Nacional del Prado, is one of the most outstanding art museums in the world, as well as one of the most visited (the ninth in 2023). Based on Paseo del Prado, Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain, it is also considered the most important cultural institution in the country, according to the Observatory of Culture of 2023, a study carried out among several hundred professionals in the sector.
Singularly rich in paintings by Spanish masters and various pictorial schools from the rest of Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries, and Spanish from the 19th, according to the art historian and Hispanist Jonathan Brown, “few would dare to doubt that it is the most important museum in the world in European painting.”
The inventory of artistic assets included, as of February 2017, more than 35,000 objects, broken down into 8,045 paintings, 9,561 drawings, 5,973 prints and 34 printing matrices, 971 sculptures (in addition to 154 fragments), 1,189 pieces of decorative art, 38 weapons and armor, 2,155 medals and coins, over 15,000 photographs, 4 books and 155 maps.
The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum’s fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now one of the largest outside of Italy.
Due to endemic space limitations, the museum exhibited a selection of works of the highest quality (about 900), which is why it was defined as “the highest concentration of masterpieces per square meter.” With the Rafael Moneo extension, inaugurated in 2007, it was expected that the selection on display would grow by 50%, with some 450 more works. In addition, in 2018 the rooms of the north attic were reopened, after which the total number of pieces on display is around 1,700, and when the building of the Salón de Reinos is rehabilitated, between 250 and 300 more paintings will be found there.
Like other great European museums, such as the Louvre in Paris, the Prado owes its origin to the collecting hobby of the ruling dynasties over several centuries. It reflects the personal tastes of the Spanish kings and their network of alliances and their political enmities, so it is an asymmetrical collection; some artists and styles have an unsurpassed repertoire, and on the contrary, others are not represented or are scarcely represented. Only since the twentieth century has there been an attempt, with mixed results, to fill some gaps.
The Prado is not an encyclopaedic museum in the style of the Louvre, the Hermitage, the Metropolitan, the National Gallery in London, or even (on a much smaller scale) the neighbouring Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which has works from practically all schools and periods. On the contrary, it is an intense and distinguished collection, formed essentially by a few art-loving kings, where many works were created on commission. The collection from the Royal Collection has been supplemented by later contributions, which have barely modified its initial profile, since, unlike what is usual in the national art galleries of other countries, the efforts, rather than filling in the gaps, have been directed at strengthening the essential core.
Together with the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Museo Nacional del Prado forms the so-called Art Triangle, a mecca for numerous tourists from around the world. This area is enriched by other nearby institutions: the National Archaeological Museum, the National Museum of Decorative Arts, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and other small museums.
The Prado is governed by a director (currently Miguel Falomir, in office since 2017), assisted by the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museum. Its operation is governed by Law 46/2003, of November 25, regulating the Museo Nacional del Prado.
History
The building that houses the Prado Museum was initially conceived by José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca and first Secretary of State to King Charles III of Spain, as the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, within the framework of a series of scientific institutions (designed according to the new mentality of the Enlightenment) for the redevelopment of the avenue known as the Salón del Prado. To this end, Charles III relied on one of his favourite architects, Juan de Villanueva, who was also the designer of the neighbouring Royal Botanical Garden and the Royal Astronomical Observatory, which formed a complex known as the Hill of Science.
The architectural project for the current art gallery was approved by Charles III in 1786. It was the culmination of Villanueva’s career and one of the peaks of Spanish Neoclassicism, although given the long duration of the works and subsequent vicissitudes, the final result deviated somewhat from the initial design.
Thanks solely to the interest shown by Ferdinand VII and, above all, by his second wife, Maria Isabel of Braganza, the restoration of the building began in 1818, based on new designs by Villanueva himself, who was replaced upon his death by his disciple Antonio López Aguado, with funds contributed by the king from his “personal purse” or “secret pocket”.
In 1995, a parliamentary agreement signed by the two main parties in the Cortes, PP and PSOE, protected the museum from political upheaval and provided the necessary calm for a process of modernisation, which included legal changes as well as the extension. This, after a controversial competition of ideas, was awarded to the architect José Rafael Moneo Vallés, already well known in this field for his work on the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, among others. The extension was inaugurated in October 2007, after five years of work.
Address: Retiro, 28014 Madrid, Spain.
Working hours:
Thursday 10 AM–8 PM
Friday 10 AM–8 PM
Saturday 10 AM–8 PM
Sunday 10 AM–7 PM
Monday 10 AM–8 PM
Tuesday 10 AM–8 PM
Wednesday 10 AM–8 PM
Ticket prices: General admission 15€; Reduced admission 7,50€.
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