My name is Mercedes Orihuela. Today and for some years now I have been responsible for the works that are deposited by the Museo del Prado outside the institution. Before that, I joined the Museum with a grant from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in order to carry out my work experience in museum studies, which at that time was essential in order to be able to work at a museum. It consisted of a year of free work experience, but it was of great use in enabling you to get to know the Museum. And this was probably around 1975. After that, I worked at the Prado under different contracts, grants, etc. Which is to say, I’ve been coming to this Museum regularly since 1975. Since 1978 I have formed part of this team and, as of 1982, I have worked as a staff conservator. And I still work in the same area, what is poetically known as the “Prado Disperso”, which actually consists of the works that the Museum has deposited since 1872 at different institutions throughout Madrid and other cities, and, in some cases, in places smaller than a city, not to mention certain Spanish embassies abroad.
Conservator of the Museo del Prado since 1982. She began collaborating with the Museum in the 1970's, sorting documents and photographic archives. She documents and visits the depository institutions of works of the Museum, giving rise to the collection known as "Prado disperso" (Scattered Prado).
Interview recorded on April 08, 2018