Among the activities to mark its Bicentenary, the Museo del Prado is intending to emphasise its role as a place of inspiration for the great masters of the 20th century. On this occasion it will be showing the work of an artist who never visited the Museum, presenting the work of Alberto Giacometti in dialogue with key works from its collection. The exhibition will be curated by Carmen Giménez, Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of 20th Century Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and will be installed with the Central Gallery of the Villanueva Building as its principal axis. This project is benefiting from the special collaboration of the Beyeler Foundation in Basel and the Comunidad de Madrid, and from the support of Embassy of Switzerland and Mirabaud.

This exhibition project will recreate the original aspect of Room 39, known as Their Majesties’ Retiring Room. First opened in 1828, it was intended as a portrait gallery of the Bourbon Dynasty. The images on display were accompanied by still lifes, floral compositions and landscapes and by other paintings that depict events from the reigns of Charles III and Ferdinand VII. This installation will recreate the hanging of the paintings at different heights and will include some of the furnishings made for this space, including Ferdinand VII’s toilet.

The Execution of Torrijos and his Companions on the Beach at Málaga by Antonio Gisbert is the most outstanding picture of the last period of history painting in Spain. Besides its pictorial quality, it is also an intense political statement in defence of liberty. Through a restrained naturalism, it vindicates the nobility and dignity of the memory of the liberal politician José María Torrijos (1791-1831) and his companions of all social classes, who were shot without trial on the orders of Ferdinand VII. The picture, paid for by the Spanish State during the liberal government of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, was painted for the Museo del Prado in 1888.

Among the initiatives to celebrate the Museum’s Bicentenary, and with the title “Audiovisual memory of the Museo del Prado”, a new documentary archive brings together the audiovisual history of the Museum – its buildings and collections – for the first time through film, NODO news bulletins and television. This selection of audiovisual material, which will come to number more than 400 items over the course of 2019, offers a survey of more than 100 years of images of the Prado.

In collaboration with the Filmoteca and Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), the archive starts with 300 titles, including a previously unseen documentary entitled “Introduction to the Museo del Prado” (1985) by Basilio Martín Patino, the RTVE series “Looking at a painting” with contributions from figures such as Alberti, Cela and Umbral, and full-length cinema films with actors such as Rita Hayworth, Rex Harrison, Tony Leblanc, Aurora Bautista and Concha Velasco, directed by Ramón Masats, Antonio Mercero, Jacinto Molina, Orson Welles and George Marshall, among others.

The Museo del Prado presents the generous donation made in 2018 by the Ellacuria family, the descendants of the painter Cecilio Pla (1859–1934). It is made up of a large collection of letters, photographs and negatives, and some of his sketchbooks, together with a number of loose drawings and various other materials related to his career, such his diplomas and medals. This donation, of which only a small selection is on display, will enhance our knowledge of the work of this Valencian painter and the artistic and cultural panorama of his time.

Desde el 30 de octubre, en la sala 66 del edificio Villanueva, el visitante del Museo del Prado podrá disfrutar de La última comunión de san José de Calasanz, la pintura religiosa de Goya más evocadora que fue pintada el mismo año de la inauguración del Museo del Prado para la iglesia de San Antón del colegio de las Escuelas Pías de Madrid.

Este extraordinario préstamo, propiedad de la Orden de las Escuelas Pías de la provincia de Betania, se inscribe en el programa ‘La obra invitada’, una actividad patrocinada por la Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado desde 2010 para enriquecer la visita al Museo y establecer un término de comparación que permita reflexionar sobre las propias pinturas del Prado.