Voces del Prado

The leap into the unknown

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

I haven’t got much time left at the Museum. I’ve been here at the Casón for 45 years and I’m retiring in April. I’m not going to talk about the works, as there’s a whole series of works that are almost icons in my life, but about the people.
I had four children quite close together and I had to work during that whole period. I have to say that if it hadn’t been for the support of my colleagues and directors (and the help of the children’s grandmothers, of course) I wouldn’t have been able to carry out my work at the Museum or look after my family. But I also have to say that it was during that period that I appreciated the human richness to be found at the Museum. I say that sincerely, it’s not a pose and it’s not because I’m at the end of my working life; it’s true. I hope I’ll be able to keep in touch with them because they’re really people who’ve contributed a lot to my life and I don’t want to lose them.
I extended my time at the Museum by two years as I was committed to the “Fortuny” exhibition [2017] and had to produce various publications for it. I felt I had to fulfil that commitment but now I’ve done so I think the final phase has arrived.
Now I have a feeling which isn’t nostalgia. I’m more concerned about the leap into the unknown that I’m about to make, as up to now I’ve been very busy and I’ve never known what it is to have free time. And now I think I’m going to have a great deal of free time and so many options for filling it that in the end I may not do any of them, as it’s typical that when you have so many you don’t know which one to choose. I’m someone who likes handicraft a lot. So at some point I’ll probably take all that up again, which I’ve always really liked but I’ve never been able to fully devote myself to. But it’s true that I’m going to lose the day-to-day contact and that does make me a bit anxious.