Voces del Prado

The curator contributes knowledge and an eye

Juan Luna Fernández, Head of the Department of Conservation of 18th Century Painting, 1969-2016

Being a curator at the Museum is very complicated as a curator has quite a lot of different jobs. You have to check the works that you’re responsible for and also propose them for restoration. The curator doesn’t touch the works, what the curator does is bring knowledge and an eye. The curator has to assess the works, suggest the acquisition of works, write articles, prepare catalogues, organise exhibitions, go to auctions and sales of works of art to see if there’s anything that might interest the Museo del Prado. You have to accompany the exhibitions, contribute to proposals for acquisitions by the Museum and prepare reports. So, it’s a wide-ranging job but also an extremely interesting one. It’s a job without fixed hours.
By law a curator can’t work in the art market or the private field. You can’t get involved in that world or issue certificates of expertise for works of art unless it’s for a museum or requested by the State, which might need it for a provincial museum, for Patrimonio Nacional or for other museums around the world. Due to my field of expertise various museums around the world have asked my opinion on whether they acquire particular works and I’ve done that. So, it’s an exchange of knowledge. It’s a very active job. The curator has to prepare reports on works requested by other institutions for exhibitions: whether the works can travel, how important they are and also calculate their value for insurance purposes. And they have to accept or reject loan requests as in some cases the works are very fragile and can’t travel. You have to study the lighting of the works a great deal and the climate control in the galleries. A museum curator’s field is vast.