Along with the Louvre and the Hermitage, the Prado Museum is considered the world's largest .Here you will find the richest collection of Spanish painting, masterpieces of Italian, Flemish and Dutch masters .Officially, the museum in Madrid was opened in 1819 in the Prado Park, thanks to which it received its name .The construction of the museum lasted more than 20 years under the guidance of the Spanish architect Juan de Villanueva .The first collection of the Prado Museum consisted of more than 300 paintings, now it stores over 6,000 paintings, more than 400 sculptures and works of jewelry art .
Spanish painting
In the museum there is a grandiose collection of Spanish painting, such masters as El Greco, Dego Vilasces and Francisco Hosse de Goya are represented. Cloths of El Greco can be easily distinguished from the paintings of other masters, the color of his works is extremely rich and immediately catches the eye with bright, saturated strokes, expressiveness and vigorous execution. In the Prado Museum, for example, you can see such paintings as "Trinity" and "Crucifixion with Our Lady, John and Mary Magdalene", as well as "The Baptism of Christ."
The representative of the Spanish golden age and one of the best portrait painters of Spain, Diego Velázquez wrote unusually realistic pictures, a strict color scheme and carefully selected colors. Among the famous paintings of Diego Velasquez in the Prado Museum you can see: "The Triumph of Bacchus or Drunkards", "Portrait of Philip IV in hunting clothes", "Isabella Bourbon on horseback."
One of the first representatives of the fine arts of the Romantic era, Francisco José de Goya, is not easily recognizable especially at the beginning of his work, when bright, life-affirming strokes flashed on his canvases .After the Great French Revolution, his work was replaced by light shades of tragedy and gloom, the sharpness of graphics and the unusual speed of drawing .The Prado Museum stores almost all of his works, including the famous "Naked Mach" and "Dressed Mach", "The Family of Charles IV", "The May 2, 1808 uprising in Madrid" and others .
Italian painting
The Italian school is represented in the museum, primarily by the works of Sandro Botticelli "The History of Nastaggio degli Onesti", Raphael "Carrying the Cross" and "Portrait of the Cardinal", Titian's paintings "Bacchanalia", "Venus and Adonis", as well as masterpieces by Andrea del Sarto, Tintoretto , Veronese et al.
Flemish and Dutch schools
Representatives of the Flemish and Dutch school of painting in the Prado Museum are: Rubens "Adam and Eve", "Adoration of the Magi", "Three Graces", "The Abduction of Europe", Rembrandt, Antonis Van Dyck, Hieronymus Bosch and others.
Practical information
The Prado Museum is open every day from 9:00 to 20:00, except Monday. In the pre-holiday days the museum is open until 14:00.
Starting from January 16, 2012, the Prado Museum will start working on a new schedule without a weekend. The museum will be open from 10:00 to 20:00 and from 10:00 to 19:00 on weekends and on public holidays. The entrance ticket costs 8 EUR, for students with ISEC card - 4 EUR. Free of charge visitors to the museum are under the age of 18, teachers and guides. On national holidays (October 12, November 19, December 6, May 2 and May 18), as well as two hours before closing, the entrance to the museum is free for all. From 2012 it will also be possible to visit the museum free of charge from 18:00 to 20:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00 on weekends.
Address: Museo Nacional del Prado, Paseo del Prado s / n. 28014, metro Banco de España, Atocha.
Phone: +34 902 10 70 77
Working hours: Tue-Sun 09: 00-20: 00
Entrance - 3-6 EUR.
| The Prado Museum |
| One of the halls of the Prado Museum |
| Albrecht Durer, self-portrait |
| Rubens, Three Gracia |
| Philip IV's family |
| Judith at the Holofern banquet |