Spain Culture News
Goya in Times of War - New show opens at the Prado
By h.b.
Apr 14, 2008 - 5:45 PM

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia have today opened a new grand exhibition at the Prado Museum in Madrid, dedicated to Francisco de Goya – 'Goya in Times of War'. It contains 200 paintings and drawings including many works which have been borrowed from private collections and never seen in public before, now being shown to mark the 200th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War.

At the centre of the show are the two works ‘El 2 de Mayo’ and ‘El 3 de Mayo’ which have just been restored by the museum. The King and Queen inspected the paintings dating from when Goya was a painter of the court, and saw the other classics such as ‘La Maja Desnuda’ and ‘La Familia de Carlos IV’.

Goya's masterpiece - El 3 de Mayo

Accompanying the monarchs at the opening was the Minister for Culture, César Antonio Molina, and the Director of the Museum, Miguel Zugaza. Also present was the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón and the Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza among others.

'El Coloso' - Is it a Goya or not?

One work which is not on show is ‘El Coloso’ – The colossus. The Prado fears that its attribution as being by Goya may, in fact, be incorrect. It follows doubts about the painting voiced by the British expert on Goya, Juliet Wilson-Barreau, who is also a member of the team which organised this new show at the Prado. Debate on the painting is thus served.

Practical Information: Date:15 April to 13 July 2008

Entry to the exhibition
Entry and ticket sales at the Upper Goya Entrance only
Entry with advance booking and people with limited mobility at Velázquez Entrance

Ticket prices
General entry: 6€
Reductions and free entry according to regulations
Advance booking for individual visitors: 9€
Free admission: from Tuesday to Saturday from 6 pm to 8 pm and Sandays from 5pm to 8 pm

Information, reservation and advance booking tickets:
tel: 902 10 70 77