Voces del Prado

The Museum, yesterday and today

Javier Docampo Capilla, Head of the Library, Documentation and Archives Area, 2005-2016

The first time I visited the Museum I was around ten or eleven, back in 1974 or 75.
It was an exceptional collection, in a different state of conservation. It has always been said, and it is true, that the collections of the Prado Museum are very well conserved, but it was a place of dark paintings, a bit blackened, I wouldn't quite say covered in dust, but maybe there was some of that.
I have memories, which I've often spoken about, of the hall of Las Meninas, a small hall in which you were meant to look at the painting through a mirror. There was a large mirror facing the picture, you had to look in the mirror, and if you concentrated well enough, as if in a freak show at the fair, you became a part of the painting. I looked at it a lot, and saw myself, the Infanta and the servants behind her, but in my mind I didn't quite fit in on the canvas.
Javier Portús wrote a fascinating article, published a few years ago in the Museum Bulletin, a picturesque and peculiar piece, but it's true that the eye of a 10 or 11-year old boy will focus on certain details, in turn neglecting others.
You come to enjoy and value the Museum as time goes by and after having seen many other museums. The thing is, in your first visit you see things and you think they're normal. You go through the halls, knowing nothing at all, and you think that walking through four halls filled with paintings by Titian is something normal, and that six halls dedicated to Velázquez is something you can find almost anywhere. When you start seeing museums in Europe, in the United States, it dawns on you how exceptional and unique the Prado really is. The passage of time and greater knowledge allow you to assess the extent to which the Museum has a unique, unparalleled collection.