Voces del Prado

1992. The empty gallery

Ana Gutiérrez Márquez, Senior Technician of Museums (Conservation of 19th Century Painting), 1975-2018

In 1992, I think it was in July 1992, it was decided that Guernica would enter the Museo Reina Sofía’s collection. Guernica had been exhibited in the central room of the Casón but it wasn’t alone as over those years the Cooper Bequest had also arrived, which was works by Picasso and Juan Gris. Also on show was The Dream and Lie of Franco and The female Offerant by Picasso. All these works were displayed in the central room, surrounding Guernica in its case. So it was in the Casón for about ten years.
After the decision to move it to the Museo Reina Sofía, Guernica left with the entire Cooper Bequest and all the drawings. The central room was left empty and the 19th-century collection was reinstalled. As a reciprocal loan the Museo Reina Sofía lent the Museo del Prado a collection from the late 19th century, making it possible to display works by Zuloaga, Regoyos and López de Mezquita. I remember that Ramón Casas’s most important work, Garrote vil (Garrotte), was also there. In this way it was some years.
In 1997, I would say, the Casón closed. It was closed for years, in principle waiting to be turned into a museum to house lots of 19th-century works. They started refitting the basements for the large history paintings. But circumstances changed and what was going to be a museum instead became the Study Centre, as it is now.