Madrid has become accustomed to the fact that its museums are not only open during the day. And the Museo Nacional del Prado is bidding farewell to the Christmas holidays with one of its most celebrated initiatives: “El Prado by night”, an evening that allows visitors to tour some of the museum’s most iconic galleries free of charge outside the usual opening hours.
This Saturday, January 3, from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., the public will have free access to the second floor of the Villanueva building, where the history of European art meets contemporary creation.
The nighttime proposal will include a tour of the Central Gallery, recently renovated with a blue background that highlights the monumentality of the space and the colorful paintings. A chromatic change with historical and artistic basis that frames works as imposing as Charles V in Mühlberg by Titian, The Three Graces by Rubens or Hippomenes and Atalanta by Guido Reni.
Juan Muñoz between Goya and Velázquez
One of the great attractions of this edition will be the outstanding presence of the exhibition Juan Muñoz. Historias de Arte, which moves part of his sculptures to the spaces of the permanent collection. In a rare gesture born from a collaboration with the Madrid City Hall, the Prado allows these pieces to coexist directly with the classic masters that influenced the Madrid-born artist: Velazquez, Goya, the Renaissance, Mannerism and the Baroque become interlocutors of a contemporary work that dialogues with the past from sculpture and installation.
Sculptures, night light and technology
A few steps from the Central Gallery, the north Ionian gallery completes the tour with a selection of 56 pieces of sculpture and decorative arts, ranging from Ancient Egypt to the Baroque. By day, this space is bathed in natural light; by night, it offers a transformed, more intimate and suggestive atmosphere.
The experience is completed with some technological proposals developed by Samsung, such as “The Prado Guide”, the result of an active collaboration since 2013. In addition, the Café Prado and the museum store will be open until 10:00 pm, with its collections of exclusive products.