Voces del Prado

The live visit versus the virtual visit

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

In the rooms you are standing in front of a painting and this is actually the picture that was hanging in Philip IV’s banqueting hall or whatever. This painting is the real work itself. It’s a direct form of communication with the artist, through time, with the work itself. In virtual reality, you can also see the work very well on the screen. You can very often see it better, because the eye can’t make things bigger. Physically we can’t do what technology can and that is very useful. It’s difficult to see Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights in the Prado. You can’t get that close because it’s dangerous and there are a lot of people. I understand that. And there are so many details, so many things there that you could spend an hour just standing in front of that painting. So for me, being able to sit in a comfortable chair, with my cigar and a sherry and see the details on the screen is just … I know it’s a different experience, but it’s still a marvellous experience. This is the biggest change that has occurred in I don’t know how many decades. It’s the chance to be able to see the works in high definition. The only thing is the authenticity, which you can only experience in the museum itself. And the question of being able to make immediate comparisons, which you can do because the eye can move from one picture to another. But I’m not against the electronic media.