On a stretch of the Paseo del Prado in Madrid, with grass and trees in front, and two other museums not far off.
Madrid, Spain — Painting museum.
Look at the building first: it was meant for something else, and was extended again and again after being turned to showing paintings.
The royal collection is the base; only on one route do Goya, Velázquez and Bosch appear together.
Visitors set up easels to copy year-round; watching people look is itself a sight.
Carlos III had Juan de Villanueva design a building on the Paseo del Prado, intended for natural-history cabinets. During the Peninsular War it served as cavalry barracks and a powder store, and the work stopped for a long time. Later, persuaded by Queen María Isabel, Fernando VII changed course and opened it in November 1819 as the Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture.
The first catalogue the year it opened listed only Spanish painting, yet the building already held works gathered from royal residences everywhere, including other schools. The catalogue's compiler wanted first to show Europe that Spanish painting held its own; the collection's actual origins were far wider than the catalogue.
During the Civil War, on the League of Nations' advice, the museum sent a batch of paintings, drawings and the Prince's treasures to Valencia, then Girona, finally Geneva. When the Second World War broke out, those crates came back to Madrid by night train through France. The order they hang in today was interrupted by that journey.
Do not set it on a transfer day. In the morning you can stand before the big paintings; leave enough strength for the long hall, and only a short stretch more in the afternoon.
The Prado rewards a few rooms well chosen over the whole building.
Goya, Velázquez and Bosch are the anchors; plan around them.
The large halls are calmer early.
The Paseo del Arte continues next door.
Tell us the days in Madrid and we can talk through how a day at the Prado fits with the rest of the city.