Miguel Falomir claims that the Prado is a museum “open” to the avant-garde, to women artists and to America

The director of the Prado Museum says that among his main challenges is to “democratize” the institution for all audiences

The director of the Museo Nacional del Prado, Miguel Falomir, has claimed that the art gallery in its immediate future is “open” to the avant-garde, to the introduction of female painters and to America.

This was stated on Tuesday during the inauguration of the course ‘The Prado of the 21st Century’, organised by the Friends of the Prado Museum Foundation, in collaboration with the Complutense University.

“I am very interested in making it very clear that the Museo del Prado is not a closed institution. It is an open museum and absolutely at the forefront,” said Falomir, who listed some of the main challenges facing the art gallery, such as geographical expansion.

In this regard, Falomir recalled that when the Prado opened its doors in 1819, several American works arrived from the former royal collection, but as the 19th century progressed, they lost their “halo of masterpieces” and were relegated from its facilities. “In fairness to history, what the Prado Museum has to do is consider that America is a dimension within the royal collections, where most of our collections come from,” he said. In this regard, he praised the Philippine painting that the Prado has as “the best in the world.”

He also revealed that they are trying to “delve deeper” into topics that have been foreign to the museum until now, such as the Neapolitan Renaissance, “little or not at all known in Spain,” as he commented, or the exhibition ‘The Lost Mirror’, dedicated to the image of Jews in medieval Spain.

Another challenge facing the Prado Museum is to provide more space for female artists, an issue that has been highlighted by highlighting that in 2024 they have exhibited works by 28 women, while since 2001 only paintings by six women have been exhibited.

“One of the most universal and legitimate demands is to give women another home and the prominence they deserve in the art world. In this sense, the Prado Museum has been a pioneer in this country. In recent times, works by women have been purchased and more will be acquired and exhibited in the coming years,” she stressed.

On the other hand, he has assured that the Prado, despite not being a museum of Contemporary Art, will not “ignore” those deceased artists who during their lifetime showed an interest and commitment to the art gallery. “This is something perfectly legal. The Prado Museum can perfectly hold exhibitions on contemporary artists, such as Fernando Zóbel,” he said.

DEMOCRATIZE THE MUSEUM

At the beginning of his speech, Falomir stated that the profile of visitors is of a “medium-high or very high” cultural and economic level, and he therefore announced that one of his intentions is to “democratize” access to it.

At this point, he explained that one of his main lines of work to achieve this is the ‘El Prado at night’ initiative, which seeks to help segments of society to visit its corridors.

“There is nothing more satisfying for a director than wandering through the theatres on those nights and seeing that there are so many visitors who are completely lost,” he stressed.

He also stressed the importance of highlighting the “national” character of the art gallery, emphasizing some of the recent projects such as ‘El Prado Extended’, in which they have loaned more than 3,000 works to 275 institutions in the country, with the aim of having a “deeper” relationship with other cultural entities.

Finally, he referred to the works that the institution is currently carrying out to allow the opening of the Salón de Reinos, a project that is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and the building to be inaugurated at the beginning of 2027.

This space, as Falomir has stated, will allow for the display of more works that are currently in storage and that “any other important museum would hang on its walls.” “We believe that there are some 300 or 350 works that should be on display and that will possibly be housed in the Hall of Realms,” he said.