Voces del Prado

Works of art speak to you

Felipe Garín Llombart, Museum Director, 1991-1993

I am convinced and it has also been studied by psychologists, no time to speak about it now, that works of art speak to you, and when I went by some of the works I sometimes would have a little conversation. It may seem as if I were a madman.
Sometimes, when I needed to cheer up after a very tough day I would go down to the ground floor and crossed the room dedicated to Rubens. Not that it was due to any carnal effect, but walking in front of The Three Graces by Rubens, inadvertently you realised that there was more to the world than the travails gripping your soul at the time. And if you were very cheerful, you could go to the room dedicated to Hieronymus Bosch or Velázquez to seek a measure of serenity. It's incredible how Velázquez instils a measure of composure in you. It should be mandatory to look at his paintings seated. You must look into what the painter is telling you in that work, which is an awful lot. The painter is laying himself bare in that work and he wants you to lay yourself bare before that work. It is something so deep and difficult.
There has to be something in a work of art for it to be able to stir up emotions within us 500 years after it was painted. There is something in the work of art that reaches out and touches you. Just like a work of art, it can also be a Greek tragedy … In other words, it still reaches your emotions because it is touching you on the inside, important works are just that, they are not something frivolous or secondary, they get your mind going and thinking can be tiresome.