Voces del Prado

Professional deformation after 31 years at The Metropolitan Museum

Philippe de Montebello, Honorary Trustee, 1978-What's on

The result is a certain way of looking and a way of visiting all museums such as the Prado and other museums, one that is quite different. When I go I always make comparisons, such as the colour of the walls I would have done differently, or the way the works are hung differently in one museum compared to another, etc. I’m interested in what is written on the information panels for the works. Whether it’s a donation or when the Museum purchased the work. Museum details interest me more now than a normal visitor. What the room is like, what the light is like, all that sort of thing. Whether the pictures are too clean or not clean enough … These are the kinds of things I’m interested in and which are generally of little interest to the general public. Why should they be interested in them?