TheMuseo del Prado (/ˈprɑːdoʊ/PRAH-doh;Spanish pronunciation:[muˈseoðelˈpɾaðo]), officially known asMuseo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish nationalart museum, located in centralMadrid. It houses collections ofEuropean art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the formerSpanish royal collection, and the single best collection ofSpanish art. Founded as a museum ofpaintings andsculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The numerous works byFrancisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as byHieronymus Bosch,El Greco,Peter Paul Rubens,Titian, andDiego 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.
The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings, 7,600 paintings, 4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to many other works of art and historic documents. As of 2012, the museum displayed about 1,300 works in the main buildings, while around 3,100 works were on temporary loan to various museums and official institutions. The remainder were in storage.[4]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 attendance plunged by 76 percent to 852,161. Nonetheless, the Prado was ranked as the 16th most-visited museum in thelist of most-visited art museums in the world in 2020.[5] It is one of thelargest museums in Spain.
The building that is now the home of theMuseo Nacional del Prado was designed in 1785 by architect of theEnlightenment in SpainJuan de Villanueva on the orders ofCharles III to house the Natural History Cabinet. Nonetheless, the building's final function was not decided until the monarch's grandson,Ferdinand VII, encouraged by his wife, QueenMaría Isabel de Braganza, decided to use it as a new Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures. The royal museum, which would soon become known as the National Museum of Painting and Sculpture, and subsequently the Museo Nacional del Prado, opened to the public for the first time in November 1819. It was created with the double aim of showing theworks of art belonging to the Spanish Crown and to demonstrate to the rest of Europe that Spanish art was of equal merit to any other national school. Also, this museum needed several renovations during the 19th and 20th centuries, because of the increase of the collection as well as the increase of the public who wants to see all the collection that the museum hosted.[6]
In addition to works from theSpanish royal collection, the other holdings increased and enriched the museum with further masterpieces, such as the two Majas by Goya. Among the now closed museums whose collections have been added to that of the Prado were theMuseo de la Trinidad in 1872, and theMuseo de Arte Moderno in 1971. In addition, numerous legacies, donations and purchases have been of crucial importance for the growth of the collection. Various works entered the Prado from the Museo de la Trinidad, includingThe Fountain of Grace by the School of Van Eyck, the Santo Domingo and San Pedro Martír altarpieces painted for the monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávila byPedro Berruguete, and thefive canvases by El Greco executed for the Colegio de doña María de Aragón. Most of the Museum's 19th-century paintings come from the former Museo de Arte Moderno, including works by the Madrazos,José de Madrazo andFederico de Madrazo,Vicente López,Carlos de Haes,Eduardo Rosales andSorolla.[citation needed]
Upon the deposition ofIsabella II in 1868, the museum was nationalized and acquired the new name of "Museo del Prado". The building housed the royal collection of arts, and it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement to the museum took place in 1918. Since the creation of theMuseo del Prado more than 2,300 paintings have been incorporated into its collection, as well as numerous sculptures, prints, drawings and works of art through bequests, donations and purchases, which account for most of the New Acquisitions. Numerous bequests have enriched the museum's holdings, such as the outstanding collection of medals left to the museum by Pablo Bosch; the drawings and items of decorative art left by Pedro Fernández Durán as well asVan der Weyden's masterpiece,Duran Madonna; and the Ramón de Errazu bequest of 19th-century paintings. Particularly important donations include Barón Emile d'Erlanger's gift of Goya's Black Paintings in 1881. Among the numerous works that have entered the collection through purchase are some outstanding ones acquired in recent years including two works by El Greco,The Fable andThe Flight into Egypt acquired in 1993 and 2001, Goya'sThe Countess of Chinchon bought in 2000, Velázquez'sPortrait of Ferdinando Brandani, acquired in 2003, Bruegel'sThe Wine of Saint Martin's Day bought in 2010 and Fra Angelico'sMadonna of the Pomegranate purchased in 2016.[citation needed]
Between 1873 and 1900, the Prado helped decorate city halls, new universities, and churches. During theSecond Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, the focus was on developing provincial museums. During theSpanish Civil War, upon the recommendation of theLeague of Nations, the museum staff removed 353 paintings, 168 drawings and the Dauphin's Treasure and sent the art toValencia, then later toGirona, and finally toGeneva. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the museum upon the commencement of World War II. During the early years of the dictatorship ofFrancisco Franco, many paintings were sent to embassies.[7]
The main building was enlarged with short pavilions in the rear between 1900 and 1960. The next enlargement was the incorporation of two buildings (nearby but not adjacent) into the institutional structure of the museum: theCasón del Buen Retiro, which is equipped to display up to 400 paintings and which housed the bulk of the 20th-century art from 1971 to 1997, and theSalón de Reinos (Throne building), formerly the Army Museum.
In 1993, an extension proposed by the Prado's director at the time, Felipe Garin, was quickly abandoned after a wave of criticism.[8] In the late 1990s, a $14 million roof work forced the Velázquez masterpieceLas Meninas to change galleries twice.[9] In 1998, the Prado annex in the nearby Casón del Buen Retiro closed for a $10 million two-year overhaul that included three new underground levels. In 2007, the museum finally executedRafael Moneo's project to expand its exposition room to 16,000 square meters, hoping to increase the yearly number of visitors from 1.8 million to 2.5 million.
The cafeteria in the underground extension by Rafael Moneo
A glass-roofed and wedge-shaped foyer now contains the museum's shops and cafeteria, removing them from the main building to make more room for galleries.[9] The 16th-century Cloister of Jerónimo has been removed stone by stone to make foundations for increased stability of surrounding buildings and will be re-assembled in the new museum's extension. Hydraulic jacks had to be used to prevent the basement walls from falling during construction.[10] The enlargement is an underground building which connects the main building to another one entirely reconstructed.
In November 2016, it was announced that British architectNorman Foster, in a joint project with Carlos Rubio Carvajal, is to renovate theHall of Realms, which once formed part of the Buen Retiro palace and transform it into a $32 million extension of the Prado. The museum announced the selection of Foster and Rubio after a jury reviewed the proposals of the eight competition finalists – includingDavid Chipperfield,Rem Koolhaas andEduardo Souto de Moura –[11] who had already been shortlisted from an initial list of 47 international teams of architects.[12] The building was acquired by the Prado in 2015, after having served as an army museum until 2005. The project is designed to give the Prado about 61,500 square feet of additional available space, of which about 27,000 square feet will be used to exhibit works.[12] Only in 2021, the Spanish government approved the plans and awarded the project 36 million euros.[13]
The Prado Museum building is one of the buildings constructed during the reign ofCharles III (Carlos III) as part of a grandiose building scheme designed to bestow uponMadrid a monumental urban space. The building was initially conceived byJosé Moñino y Redondo, count of Floridablanca, and was commissioned in 1785 by Charles III for thereurbanización of the Paseo del Prado. To this end, Charles III called on one of his favorite architects,Juan de Villanueva, author also of the nearby Botanical Garden and the City Hall of Madrid.[14]
Theprado ("meadow") that was where the museum now stands gave its name to the area, the Salón del Prado (laterPaseo del Prado), and to the museum itself uponnationalisation. Work on the building stopped at the conclusion of Charles III's reign and throughout thePeninsular War and was only initiated again during the reign of Charles III's grandson,Ferdinand VII. The premises had been used as headquarters for thecavalry and agunpowder-store for theNapoleonic troops based in Madrid during the war.
The next renovations that this museum will undergo will be conducted by British architect Norman Foster. This renovation was approved in June 2020 and is expected to take a minimum of four years.[15]
In 1991,Manuel Villaescusa bequeathed his fortune of nearly $40 million in Madrid real estate to the Prado, to be used solely for the acquisition of paintings. The museum subsequently sold Villaescusa's buildings to realize income from them. The bequest suddenly made the Prado one of the most formidable bidders for paintings in the world.[16]
Until the early 2000s, the Prado's annual income was approximately $18 million, $15 million of which came from the government and the remainder from private contributions, publications, and admissions.[16] In 2001, the conservative government ofJosé María Aznar decided to change the museum's financing platform, ushering in a public-private partnership. Under its new bylaws, which theCortes Generales approved in 2003, the Prado must gradually reduce its level of state support to 50 percent from 80 percent. In exchange, the museum gained control of the budget — which was roughly €35 million in 2004 — and the power to raise money from corporate donations and merchandising.[17] However, its 2004 €150 million expansion was paid for by the Spanish state.[17]
The first four directors were drawn from nobility. From 1838 to 1960, the directors were mostly artists. Since then, most of them have beenart historians.
In 2009, the Prado Museum selected 14 of its most important paintings to be displayed inGoogle Earth andGoogle Maps at extremely high resolution, with the largest displayed at 14,000megapixels. The images' zoom capability allows for close-up views of paint texture and fine detail.[18][19]
Between 8 November 2011 and 25 March 2012, a group of 179 works of art were brought to the Museo del Prado from theHermitage Museum inSt. Petersburg.[20] Notable works included:
Conversely, for the first time in its 200-year history, the Museo del Prado has toured an exhibition of its renowned collection of Italian masterpieces at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, from 16 May 2014 until 31 August 2014. Many of the works have never before left Spain.[citation needed]
^"The Collection: origins". Museo Nacional del Prado. Archived fromthe original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved15 November 2012.See alsoMuseo del Prado, Catálogo de las pinturas, 1996, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, Madrid, No ISBN, which lists about 7,800 paintings. Many works have been passed to the Museo Reina Sofia and other museums over the years; others are on loan or in storage. On the new displays, seeEl Prado se reordena y agranda. europapress.es here (in Spanish)Archived 6 October 2014 at theWayback Machine
Alcolea Blanch, Santiago.The Prado, translated from the Spanish by Richard-Lewis Rees and Angela Patricia Hall. New York: Abrams 1991.ISBN0-8109-8147-5
Araujo Sánchez, Ceferino.Los museos de España. Madrid 1875.
Blanco, Antonio.Museo del Prado. Catálago de la Escultura. I Esculturas clásicas. II. Escultura, copia e imitaciones de las antiguas) (siglos XVI–XVIII). Madrid 1957.
Luca de Tena, Consuelo and Mena, Manuela.Guía actualizada del Prado. Madrid: Alfiz 1985.
Rumeu de Armas, Antonio.Origen y fundación del Museo del Prado. Madrid: Instituto de España 1980.
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