PRADO MUSEUM

It's impossible to pass through the Spanish capital without visiting this famous museum (which, incidentally, celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2019), which boasts one of the largest collections of Spanish works (Velázquez, Zurbarán, Goya, Murillo, Ribeira, El Greco...), as well as European works from the ^12th to the ^19th century (Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Tintoretto, Dürer, Van der Weyden) and ancient Greek and Roman works.

The building itself was designed by Madrid architect Juan de Villanueva in 1786. It was commissioned by the famous King Charles III (nicknamed the "Mason King" because of the number of buildings he built) as part of the Prado's "Salon". The promenade, built at the time, attracted important Madrilenians to discuss marriage, business... Charles III, a man of the Enlightenment, had the astronomical observatory, the botanical garden and the present-day museum built along the promenade, which would have been used for the study of natural history. During the Napoleonic invasion, the building served as headquarters for the French cavalry. In 1819, Ferdinand VII, acting on an idea put forward by Joseph Bonaparte, inaugurated it as an art museum housing the collections of the Spanish kings. The works were protected by sandbags on the first floor during the Civil War, before being transferred to Valencia and then to Geneva. But by the time of the Second World War, they were back in their rightful place. Rafael Moneo then redeveloped the museum, enlarging it in October 2007. Today, the Prado is quite simply one of the world's largest art galleries, with almost 10,000 works, only a tenth of which are on display at the Prado.

In fact, almost half the collection is dispersed to other museums and official institutions around the world. The collections of Spanish and Italian paintings are unique and impressive, not to mention a number of major painters such as Rubens, Bosch and Van Dyck.

For those in a hurry. If you don't have much time to visit the Prado, concentrate on the rooms devoted to Spanish painting, particularly those featuring works by El Greco, Velázquez and Goya. The most famous paintings are El Greco'sHoly Trinity, Velázquez's Las Meninas and Goya'sTres de Mayo. Pick up a map at the reception desk, which will show you where these unmissable masterpieces of the Madrid museum are located.

Spanish painting. Mannerism reacted against the fixed, serene order of the Italian Cinquecento by distorting and exaggerating the features of the figures depicted. We have a fine example of this style in Pedro Machuca's Descent from the Cross and Luis de Morales' Madonnas. The elongation of figures was taken to its extreme by Dhominikos Theotokopoulos, known as El Greco. Born in Crete in 1541, he lived in Italy before settling in Toledo to paint religious pictures. Most of his work can be found in Toledo, but the Prado has one of his best-known and most enigmatic paintings: El Caballero de la mano en el pecho (The Gentleman with his Hand on his Chest). The ^17th century, the golden age of Spanish painting, was rich in first-rate painters.

Many of them settled in Italy, where Spain owned territories, and followed Italian artistic trends. Such was the case of José de Ribera, who constantly used chiaroscuro and tenebrism (large areas of dark color enhanced by a hint of light) in his paintings, in the manner of Caravaggio. Francisco Ribalta, author of the magnificent Christ Embracing San Bernardo, used the same techniques, as did Zurbarán. Zurbarán is best known for his still lifes and portraits of monks and saints. Diego Velázquez is the artist who best represents the Spanish Golden Age. As painter of the king's chamber, he painted portraits of monarchs, as well as mythological and religious scenes very close to everyday life and social reality. The Triumph of Bacchus becomes The Drunkards(Los Borrachos), Vulcan's Forge is transformed into a village forge, and the legend of Arachne is embodied by spinners(Las Hilanderas). His best work is undoubtedly Las Meninas, in which Velázquez depicted himself painting the king and queen, facing the viewer. The royal couple can be seen in the mirror in the background, forcing us to seek out their exact position and imagine the subject the artist is painting. Goya, for his part, is the finest exponent of ^18th-century Spanish painting. He first specialized in cartoons for carpets and became painter to the king's chamber in 1789. With his famous Tres de Mayo, he bore witness to the French army's bloody suppression of the popular uprising that had broken out the day before in the heart of Madrid. This superb painting came to symbolize all forms of repression. The painter showed great insolence: he painted the family of Charles IV in an unflattering light, and the Maja desnuda, a nude that caused a scandal at the time.

The last phase of Goya's work is rather sombre. At the end of his life, the painter, suffering from deafness, produced a series of expressionist paintings. Cruel, monstrous figures fill the dark, disquieting canvases of his "black paintings".

Dutch and Flemish paintings. The size and variety of the collection of Italian and Dutch paintings from the ^16th and ^17th centuries is explained by the fact that part of these countries was under Spanish domination at the time. Robert Campin's Saint Barbara and Van der Weyden's The Descent from the Cross(El descendimiento de la Cruz) are two masterpieces. The most astonishing painter is undoubtedly Jheronimus Bosch, known as El Bosco. His Garden of Delights and his painting The Seven Deadly Sins (Los Siete Pecados capitales) belonged to the private collections of Philip II. The Prado has almost 100 paintings by ^17th-century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, including theAdoration of the Magi and The Three Graces, which are a must-see. And don't forget Bruegel the Elder's disturbing Triumph of Death and Rembrandt's Artemisia.

Italian painting. The Prado Museum also boasts a remarkable collection of Italian painting, most of which can be found on the second floor of the museum, through the Goya door. By Botticelli, the Prado has three fine wooden panels: The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti, which tells a story from Boccaccio's Decameron. Other major works include Fra Angelico'sAnnunciation and, from the Cinquecento period, Raphael's Holy Family of the Lamb and Portrait of the Cardinal. We can also admire works by the Venetian school (Giorgione, Bellini, Lotto, etc.), but the undisputed master remains Titian, Charles V's court painter. In Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg, he portrayed the king just before the battle with the rebellious Protestants. The Veronese and Tintoretto rooms are almost always empty, allowing for quiet contemplation. Italian rococo is represented by Tiepolo.

French painting. When the Bourbons came to the throne in the ^18th century, the French influence was immediately felt. The Prado therefore contains an exceptional collection of French painting on the second floor, including eight paintings by Poussin, including the serene Le Parnasse and Paysage avec Saint Jérôme. The magnificent Paysage de l'embarquement de sainte Paule à Ostie is by Claude Lorrain. Antoine Watteau and Jean Ranc represent French ^18th-century rococo.

German painting. German art is rather poorly represented here, even if the works on show are of the highest quality. Albrecht Dürer's Self-Portrait, painted at the age of 26, Lucas Cranach's The Hunt in Honor of Charles V , and Raphaël Mengs' Portrait of Charles III are three works worth contemplating.

Until March 2024, the museum is presenting a contemporary art exhibition, "On the Reverse", as well as other retrospectives of Spanish art.