There are many ways to visit a museum. Even when it comes to one as well known as El Prado, it is surprising to see the practically inexhaustible source of possibilities it can offer. Sometimes, it is simply enough to focus on a very specific element to serve as a guiding thread and justify a thematic tour such as A botanical walk through the Prado, an itinerary just announced by the institution.
From October 28 to March 30, visitors will have the chance to tour part of the museum’s collection from a different point of view: that of the importance and significance of botany in art, ranging from Roman sculpture to early 18th-century painting.
This botanical walk designed by Eduardo Barba Gómez, gardener and botanical researcher in works of art, proposes to the public to discover the more than 40 species of plants and flowers that are represented in 26 works by artists such as Patinir, Fra Angelico, Titian, Velázquez, Rubens or Zurbarán.
From this approach, its role ceases to be merely aesthetic or decorative and becomes an entity of its own:“it can tell us about mythological, religious, nobiliary or costumbrista symbolism,” explains El Prado in a press release.
The Prado and botany
This is not the first time that this emblematic museum has organized an activity related to botany: since 2022 it has hosted several olfactory exhibitions to learn a new dimension of some of its paintings through scents and perfumes that were popular centuries ago.
The botanical walk, on the other hand, can be accompanied by the explanations of audio guides that are available in both Spanish and English.