Voces del Prado

The three conditions

Felipe Garín Llombart, Museum Director, 1991-1993

My name is Felipe Garín and my relationship with the Museum as a visitor goes back to my days as a university student, in other words the 1960s. The relationship grew progressively once I was appointed as a member of the Trust of the Museum, approximately around 1980 if my memory hasn't slipped.
Later, I might say circumstantially, I was caught in a proposal to become the director of the Museum.
The Museum, if I remember correctly, lacked a director for three or four months. Meanwhile, Professor Solé Tura was appointed as Minister [of Culture] and he called me one day to have an interview with him.
I went to his office, we spoke quite some time about the Museum and my professional career and one or two weeks later he called me again and at the end of the second interview he asked me if I would like to be the director of the Prado Museum.
At a moment like that you get cold shivers all over because for me the Prado Museum has always been, is and will continue to be a symbol that represents Spain. I told him there would be three conditions and he asked me, "How do you dare set conditions when offered the post of director of the Prado Museum?" I told him, "Look, Minister, I'll set the conditions and you can give me an answer. The first one is that my family has to agree, because it can be quite traumatic with my three children and my wife living in Valencia. The second one is that when taking possession, if we get that far, I want to be sworn in rather than promising. And the third condition is that I'm not going to be a member of any political party. I never have been and I'm not signing up with any party". He said, "That's nonsense, we accept everyone here. Do as you please and get back to me". That is when the official proposal came through, and the approval by the Trust. It was in April 1991.