The Prado

There are three major art museums in Madrid: the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Reina Sofia. Each cater to a different audience and so you get a nice cross-section of art by visiting all three. In fact, you can get a “Paseo de Arte” pass at any of the three for €32 and the pass works at all three. Saves a few Euros on entry fees. Also all three are walking distance from each other.

We started at the Prado. It is widely considered to house one of the world’s finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish royal collection and the single best collection of Spanish art.

The museum houses the largest collection of Goyas as well as many famous piece by Diego Velásquez who is a Spanish icon.

The museum is strict about taking pictures, especially of their most famous works but we were able to snap a few of some beautiful pieces.

This famous Paul Rubens oil painting is from the early 1600s.

Another Rubens was the Rest on the Flight into Egypt with the Saints from around 1635z

Then a different take on The Adoration of the Maggi by Juan Bautista Maino from around 1614. This version is notable because of the rich colors used that were a tip of the hat to the royalty at the time.

Here we have Vulcan’s Forge by Diego Velásquez. In this painting Apollo is bursting into Vulcan’s forge to inform him of his wife’s adultery.

One more was the Dog and Its Reflection by Paul Vos from 1637. The painting shows a dog seeing a reflection of a piece of meat in the water below and while trying to reach for the reflected meat it drops the piece it had.

It is a telling of Aesop’s fable where the lesson is that we ought to value what we already have before yearning for something better.

A really beautiful museum – one of the world’s greats that should be seen if you have the chance.