On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado, the exhibition is an appreciation and a celebration of the Friends that have given their support to the Museum. It will gather, for the first time in one single display, the works that the Fundación has donated to the Prado thanks to their generosity. The exhibition aims also to be illustrative and to encourage new donations.

The exhibition will include all the works that have been donated by the Fundación or with its contribution, with the exception of the three series of contemporary art, of which we will show a selection given the high number of works that they comprise. It will also include works donated to American Friends of the Prado Museum, which are at the institution on long-term loan.

One of the great masterpieces of European art, The Spinners by Velázquez, is presented with a new frame that hides the later 18th century additions to the canvas from view and allows the visitor to contemplate the composition as conceived by Velazquez.

The work is integrated into an innovative installation specially designed for the masterpiece and incorporates new technical features for conservation.

The recovery of Velazquez’s composition marks the first action of the “Reframing the Prado” project which aims to develop new solutions and adequate framing features for the best presentation of the Prado’s collection.

“Reframing the Prado” is supported by American Friends of the Prado Museum thanks to the generous sponsorship of the American Express Foundation.

“La obra invitada”, programa patrocinado por la Fundación Amigos Museo del Prado, presenta el Biombo de la Conquista de México, pieza capital del arte virreinal.

Este biombo refleja el ideario de las élites criollas de la capital de la Nueva España y visualiza su relación con una Monarquía Hispánica a la que debían fidelidad política y el origen de su fe, pero también el orgullo y la singularidad de una realidad americana que cristalizaría más de un siglo después en el proceso de independencia.

Expuesta en la sala 16 A del edificio Villanueva hasta el próximo 26 de septiembre, esta excepcional pieza pasará a formar parte de la exposición temporal Tornaviaje, una apuesta del Prado por abrir sus colecciones a nuevas geografías.

The bequest made by Carmen Sánchez García (1929-2016) to the Museo del Prado has allowed for the acquisition of numerous paintings that reflect her desire to leave much of her estate “for the acquisition and restoration of paintings in particular”. This exhibition will pay tribute to this benefactor of the Museum by presenting a selection of the acquisitions made possible by her generosity.

A teacher by profession, Carmen Sánchez García was associated with the Colegio Nervión from almost the outset of her career. A Friend of the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado since 2003, she was a regular participant in the Museum’s courses and educational activities.

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.

Spoken history through the experience of the people who have devoted their day to day to the institution.

Thanks to the support of Telefónica as a Benefactor Sponsor of the Visitor Services and other Users improvement programme, the Museo del Prado is now the first Spanish museum and one of the few in the world to make its historical archive available online. By doing so it is leading the way in free access to information by making it possible to consult both its collection of works of art and the contents of its archive online.

This initiative offers nearly 12,000 digitalised documents, including: the Museum’s ground plan and elevation; the list of the paintings on display in the Sala Francesa in 1887; the appointment of Pablo Picasso as the Prado’s director in 1936; and the personal archives of the Madrazo family, of Valentín Carderera, one of the leading figures in the Spanish 19^th-century art world, and of Salvador Viniegra, deputy director of the Museum between 1890 and 1898.