MADRID.- The Real Museo de Pintura y Escultura, soon after renamed the Museo Nacional de Pintura y Escultura and subsequently the Museo del Prado, opened its doors on 19 November 1819 in the building originally designed by Juan de Villanueva to house a Natural History museum and academy. The new museum presented 311 paintings by Spanish artists in an area that barely occupied 10% of the building. Since then, the Prado has seen notable changes: architectural redesigns, remodelling of the galleries, extensions, increase of the display space, growth of the collection, and changes in the organisation and criteria of its exhibitions.

For José Guirao: Spanish Minister of Culture and Sport: “The Bicentenary offers an outstanding chance to gain a vision of the past and present of this institution and to look ahead at the museum that the Prado aims to be.” With regard to the Museum’s forthcoming projects Guirao noted that: “The addition of the Hall of Realms fulfils the vision of the “Prado Campus”, representing the Prado of the future. The remodelling and museological updating of the space, designed by architects Norman Foster and Carlos Rubio, aims to reinstate the original groundplan of this building and to extend and complete the museological account of the institution.”

For José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, President of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo del Prado: “The Museum will be offering a wide range of more than 100 activities across a broad geographical span, allowing me to say that this is a Bicentenary open to all citizens, to all the arts and to all the regions of Spain, which could not be otherwise given that this is Spain’s principal cultural institution”.

In the words of Miguel Falomir, the Museum’s director: “The celebration of this event, with its mission to promote a reflection on the Museum’s past and present, will start on 19 November with the major exhibition “Museo del Prado 1819-2019. A place of memory”, spanning its history from its foundation to its place as one of the world’s great public museums.”

The celebration of the Bicentenary is a homage to that history and one that allows for an in-depth analysis of the Prado’s evolution over the past 200 years, with events that give visual form to the changes that have taken place. Among them are the commemorative exhibitions Museo del Prado 1819-2019. A place of memory, devoted to the works that have entered the Museum since its foundation, primarily through acquisitions funded by public bodies and the generosity of donors; Prado 200, which centres on the creation of the Real Museo de Pintura y Escultura and its evolution; and Ephemera, a virtual exhibition which traces the graphic depiction of the Museum. There will also be new publications, including the launch of a new series entitled “Bicentenary” which will focus on the institution, and the publication of a comic entitled Comic-strip Prado by Sento; a new documentary holding comprising graphic, audio, bibliographical and documentary material which will ensure the preservation of the Museum’s history; and educational programmes that will contribute to a better understanding of its history and evolution.

In addition to promoting a knowledge of its history, with the celebration of its Bicentenary the Museo del Prado will be ensuring that society becomes involved through a micro-sponsorship crowdfunding programme and through special activities for sectors at risk of social exclusion, as well as others aimed at school children, teachers, families, young people and adults.

The Bicentenary will also emphasise the Prado’s role as Spain’s leading cultural institution with the programme “The Museo del Prado in Spain”, which will give rise to the exhibitions On Tour around Spain, The Prado on the Street and Touching the Prado.

The temporary exhibition programme for 2019 will include names such as Velázquez, Rembrandt, Goya, Fra Angelico, Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana, of whom the latter two are among the most important women painters in the history of western art. There will also be exhibitions that aim to promote a reflection on the Museum’s past and present such as 12 Photographers in the Museo del Prado, Giacometti in the Prado, The Museo del Prado in the Archive of the EFE Agency. 80 years in photographs, Ferdinand VII’s Retiring Room, and Acquisitions through the Bequest of Carmen Sánchez García.