This week the Prado Museum opens a new exhibition covering five centuries of

Spanish portraits, from El Greco to Picasso. The exhibition has 87 paintings, opens

tomorrow and will stay open for three and a half months.

The Prado Museum’s Spanish Art exhibition is unique in that it covers such a long

period and illustrates the evolution of the style, social meaning and strategies of

Spanish portrait artists over five centuries.

The Museum describes this unique exhibition as follows:

An exhibition that offers an overview of the history of the Spanish

portrait, from its origins to the avant-garde. It includes more than

80 paintings by the leading artists to have worked in this genre,

including Alonso Sánchez Coello, El Greco, José de Ribera,

Diego Velázquez, Anton Rafael Mengs, Francisco de Goya,

Federico de Madrazo, Joaquín Sorolla, Ignacio Zuloaga,

Joan Miró, Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso.

This broad viewpoint allows not only for an analysis of the

development of the genre, but also an examination of the

varying social implications of the portrait in Spain over the

centuries, and of the aspirations of the sitters in conveying

their images to posterity. The exhibition includes paintings

by Velázquez, Goya and Picasso not previously exhibited in

Spain.

Art galleries from all over the world have collaborated to make this exhibition possible.

If you want to visit the El Greco to Picasso Portraits Exhibition and would like to book

your tickets in advance click here (if you don’t book in advance you might find yourself

waiting for hours in the long queues which often form at the ticket office when the Prado

puts on these kind of special exhibitions).

Related links:

Prado Museum Euroresidentes

El Prado homepage (English version)

Guggenheim Art Gallery, Bilbao

Spanish Art, Euroresidentes

Valazquez

Goya

Picasso

Miro

Dali