Voces del Prado

Pilar Silva, Museo del Prado

Pilar Silva Maroto, Head of the Department of Conservation of Flemish Painting and the Northern Schools up to 1700, 1997-2017

The image people have of Spain is the Museo del Prado; for others it’s Real Madrid, but normally it’s the Museo del Prado. I remember that during the Centenary of Philip II [1998] we filmed a programme with José Luis Balbín who produced “Las Claves”, because at that time he was working with us at the Press Department. He made a programme entitled “Art in the Age of Philip II”, which featured Fernando Checa, Miguel Falomir, Jesús Sáiz de Mira and me.
Two weeks later I received a letter from Patagonia that was addressed as follows: “Pilar Silva, Museo del Prado”. Nothing more, but it arrived! Inside it read: “You were great!”. I was dumbfounded, because I’d gone from my situation at the Faculty, shut away and where I knew nobody, to the situation I found myself in at the Museum, where you could use the telephone, you were called by the Getty Museum, from all kinds of places, where you met people who formed part of the history of art … well all that was quite a radical change for me. The Patagonia letter really made quite an impression on me! Because you didn’t really need to say anything else. Your address was: "Pilar Silva, Museo del Prado".