For me, the Museo del Prado represents a fundamental (but not the only) part of my life. A part in which I’ve undertaken my work, developed my ideas, although not all those I would like to have developed. This means that it’s an institution that’s very close to me, for its history, the treasures it houses and because it has determined my life for a long time. While I’ve also had a private life outside the Museum and have always had it, and the Museum hasn’t been a hindrance to that, for me it’s meant a great deal because it’s work, it’s pleasure. I think it was Confucius who said: “Find a job that you like and you’ll never work all your life.”
Collaborator with the Museo del Prado since 1969; he passed the state exam to become a conservator in 1980. In 1986, he was appointed Head of the Department of French, English and German Painting, and has been the Head of the Department of 18th Century Painting since 2003.
Interview recorded on June 11, 2018