Over the last three decades, long established museums have transformed themselves into modern institutions. The extension to the Museo del Prado completes the process of modernisation undergone by the world's leading international museums, starting towards the end of the 20th century with the expansion of the National Gallery of Washington. Two important exhibitions mark this opening.
A unique museum campus
With the termination of Rafael Moneo's project around the area of the church of the Jerónimos, the Museo del Prado has completed the most important extension to its building in its almost 200 years of history. This project, which includes the creation of new exhibition galleries and the restoration of the old Cloister of the Jerónimos, is part of an ongoing expansion project that involves the incorporation of various nearby buildings into the Prado, including the Casón and the Salón de Reinos, the last surviving remains of the Buen Retiro Palace. When completed, the Prado will constitute a unique museum campus which will enormously increase the already rich facilities to be found in one of the most important art and cultural districts in the world, known as the “Paseo del Arte” - Art Walk - in the Spanish capital.
A 50% increase of the existing surface
In 1994 the Prado Royal Board of Trustees and the Spanish Ministry of Culture decided to set in motion the expansion plan which would allow the Museum to meet the needs of its growing number of visitors, and enable it to make more of its collection available and to develop its research and educational programmes The importance of the project was reflected in the unprecedented Parliamentary Pact of 1995 which has been maintained over the subsequent years and which has allowed the project to go ahead despite changes to the Spanish political scene since that date. Following two architectural competitions, Moneo's project was chosen in 1998. Work began in February 2002. The new building incorporates more than 22,000 square metres of surface area (an increase of more than 50% on the existing size) and will allow the different visitor services and functions related to the display and preservation of the collections to be arranged in a more ordered and spacious way.
THE 19th CENTURY IN THE PRADO
Held from October 31 2007 to April 20 2008, this exhibition will bring to public attention the Museum's collection of modern paintings. The new extension will provide the perfect setting for this renewed focus on its exceptional holdings of 19th-century art, which have been inaccessible for many years, during which time they have been the subject of a major research and restoration project. This has not only led to the present exhibition but also to the publication of an exhaustive catalogue in which they will all be published for the first time.The public has the opportunity to rediscover Spanish art from the last quarter of the century of Goya to the birth of Picasso.
A survey of 19th-century Spanish art from Goya to Sorolla
The 19th Century in the Prado will be displayed in the impressive new temporary exhibition galleries and consists in a selection of more than 100 works that offer a survey of 19th-century Spanish art from Goya to Sorolla. The Museum has chosen this as its inaugural exhibition for the new wing in order to make up for the neglect that these artists have suffered for many years, given that there has been so little space to display their works. Comprising a group of 95 paintings and 12 sculptures, the exhibition will also include a complementary section featuring a selection of drawings by Goya, headed by the magnificent Winged Bull.This work will be displayed to the public for the first time following its acquisition for the Museum last year.
Catalogue: The 19th century in the Prado
520 p., 20 x 30cm, ill. Price: 48€ (paperback) Spanish and English; 55€ (cloth, only in Spanish) ISBN Museo del Prado (cloht): 978-84-8480-127-6 ISBN Museo del Prado (paperback): 978-84-8480-126-9 ISBN Tf Editores (paperback): 978-84-96209-95-4
illustration: Francisco Pradilla Doña Juana la Loca,1877. Oil on canvas, 340 x 500 cm
VELASQUEZ FABLES
Velázquez' Fables, held from 20 November 2007 to 24 February 2008 in the Villanueva Building is the first exhibition to offer an in-depth analysis of the artist's work as a painter of narratives. It brings together 27 works by the artist in addition to 24 by 17 other artists with the aim of revealing the context in which the artist executed some of his most important paintings. Among the works by Velázquez to be seen in the exhibition are 12 loans including The Rokeby Venus from the National Gallery in London, one of the artist's most famous works no longer in Spain.
Sacred and mythological
The group of works on display by Velázquez comprises his sacred and mythological compositions now in the collection of the Prado as well as other important paintings on loan. The latter include Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, The Immaculate Conception and Saint John the Evangelist from the National Gallery in London; Saint Paul from the MNAC in Barcelona; The Supper at Emmaus from Dublin; Joseph's blood-stained Coat brought to Jacob from El Escorial (which will be seen next to Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan) ; and The Temptation of Saint Thomas from Orihuela. Among the works by other artists special mention should be made of Poussin's The Triumph of David; Saint John the Baptist by Martínez Montañés; Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Guido Reni; Democritus by Ribera; The Immaculate Conception by Alonso Cano; and Rubens' Heraclitus.
A catalogue will be published
Illustration : Diego Velázquez El triunfo de Baco o Los Borrachos Óleo sobre lienzo, 165 x 225 cm Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
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