My name is Javier Solana and I’m a Member of the Board of Trustees at the Museo del Prado. The Prado has been a part of my life. I have been a Trustee for many years, and I was also Minister for Culture for a number of years, so the Museum is in my heart. I have some very mixed recollections. My parents took me to the Prado with my brothers and sisters. I must’ve been around eight or nine years old. And I thought everything was very dark. I don’t know whether I’d go so far as to say that I found it frightening, but let’s just say I didn’t enjoy it very much. Later on, when I was older, I enjoyed it very much.
I recall a small anecdote, which I still find very moving. During the last executions carried out by the Franco Government, which took place in El Hoyo del Manzanares, there was a night when we didn’t know whether there would be further executions the following day or whether Franco would issue a pardon. A group of friends and I decided to visit the Prado. We went to see Goya’s The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid, or The Executions. Let’s say it was a symbolic gesture, a layman’s way of appealing for Goya’s support – wherever he might be – so that the executions would not take place. Unfortunately, they did take place, but we experienced a highly moving moment. We must have been around twenty people. We gathered affectionately in the hall where The Executions hangs in order to invoke a sense of forgiveness, whilst recalling everything that the executions represented in Goya’s day.
Minister of Culture from 1982 to1988. Since 2010 he is Member of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo del Prado, and he was appointed Chairman of this organization on July 11, 2019.
Interview recorded on June 26, 2019