Voces del Prado

The works of art in our hands

Manuel Montero Eugenia, Head of the Art Handling Staff, 1986-What's on

The Art Handlers team is basically responsible for handling, moving and hanging the works in the Museum. Both hanging them in the galleries and taking them down, as well as moving them to the studios and stores. We are also responsible for the organisation of the art stores: arranging the works, thinking about how to hang them, ensuring that there is space for them all, and locating them in the most accessible way so that they can be seen by the Museum’s curators and external researchers.
The importance of this work fundamentally lies in the fact that you are handling the Museum’s works of art. You have the best or among the best of the world’s art in your hands and you have to be aware of this from the start. It’s an exercise that although it’s difficult to envisage on a day to day basis as you can’t be constantly thinking about every single thing you do, you do certainly interiorise it and have it in mind.
You have to think about the best way to handle the work and how to move it so that from the start to the finish of the operation the work is in the best possible state, whether you’re taking it down to a store, hanging it in a gallery or moving it to the studio.