“If you’re short on time, even if you’ve been to the Prado Museum nine times, come again.” This is the advice Conan O’Brien has given to his followers, especially to the most creative ones. And the fact is that the art gallery is not only the most visited in the capital (more than 3 million people enter annually), but it is also considered one of the most important in the world.
The American comedian has it clear: in his video he says that he has been in almost every museum on the planet and does not believe there is any like El Prado. All of us Madrilenians know its importance, but… do we know why it stands out in a special way?
Why might O’Brien be right?
The Prado, as we know it, was born in the 19th century, at the same time that the great museums of Europe were flourishing. Yes, before it became Spain’s most important cultural institution, the Louvre in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the National Gallery in London had already opened.
Although the building that houses El Prado was built by Juan de Villanueva in 1785, it was not until the reign of Ferdinand VII that it became the National Museum of Painting and Sculpture. It opened its doors to the public in 1819, with a catalog of 311 works (although the building hid many more) from the Royal Sites.
The museum’s most representative works – Velázquez’s LasMeninas, Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, Rubens’ The Three Graces and Raphael’ s The Pearl, among others –come from the Royal Collections, expanded by the Habsburgs and Bourbons – it currently has 34,000 pieces, most of them exceptionally preserved – until it became a true cultural legacy of Spain.
In short, El Prado is a journey through the empire where the sun never set (and what remained afterwards) through paintings created by the best artists our continent has ever produced. The signature of Titian, Goya, Duero, El Greco and more indelible names in the history of art can be seen repeatedly in its rooms.