The Prado Museum is undoubtedly the most important museum in Spain and one of the most prestigious art galleries in Europe. Someone coming to Madrid for the first time should not miss the opportunity to visit the Prado. In our 365 days in Madrid section we will propose several visits to the Prado, 12 specifically, once a month we will make you a proposal, a monthly masterpiece.
The 12 most representative works of the Prado Museum will not be an easy task.

The Museum was inaugurated in 1819, it was designed by the architect Juan de Villanueva in 1785. The building was conceived to house, initially, a scientific institution: the Royal Cabinet of Natural Sciences. María Isabel de Braganza persuaded her husband, Ferdinand VII, to have the building house the pictorial treasure accumulated by the Spanish crown.

The Prado has a very rich collection of painters between the 16th and 19th centuries; Velázquez, Goya, Ribera, Murillo, Titian, Rubens, Hieronymus Bosch and El Greco are some of the European masters present in the permanent collection.

The first choice of the series has been the most representative work of Diego Velázquez. The master shows great use of perspective: in the foreground appears the Infanta Margarita (daughter of Philip IV) and her ladies-in-waiting, the meninas; and in the background, the painter takes a self-portrait. But there is something more revolutionary: behind, reflected in a mirror, the kings appear, they are posing for the artist no less than where you are seeing the painting!
A abrazo.