Francis Bacon at the Prado, Madrid
Posted on February 23, 2009 - Filed Under Finance, Travel
Although the Prado museum does house all forms of visual art from drawings and sculpture to coins and artifacts, it is most known for having one of the largest painting collections in the world. There is not even enough wall space to hang the over 8500 paintings owned by the museum. What they have in the vaults and the basements and the closets store away is said to be more fine that what others museums have on their walls. The Prado only hangs about 2000 at any given time. The museum is located close to various restaurants, clubs and five star Madrid hotels, granting easy and convenient access to travelers and those out on casual strolls who manage to pass by, although most visiting the museum are there with a purpose.
The Prado, which was not called that at the time, only gaining the name after the end of the reign of monarchy, when it became the property of the nation, began with Charles the 3rd. The collection was small but exquisite. The museum grew in acquisitions and collections in 1819 through the influence of Fernando the 7th. The collection has remained in tact over many moves, within the city due to the Spanish Civil War to Switzerland and then during World War II back to Madrid from Switzerland.
The newest retrospective to be shown during the next few months, until April 19th, is of the works of Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon was born in Dublin and passed away in Madrid in 1992. Bacon spent the end of his life in Madrid, having fallen in love with the culture, the food, the night life, the fashion, the heat and the bull fighters. To him they were artistically dancer-like with fluid movements and the ability to inspire his artistic ways. He was also said to have spent hours at the museum staring endlessly at the works of the other masters housed there on the walls. He did not live to see that his paintings would be hanging next to those that he so admired one day. Bacon’s funeral ceremony was nothing like his life or his artwork. Although he enjoyed life and would spend many evenings sipping cocktails with friends and was know to be quite a fashion peacock, his paintings appeared to have been born from a tortured soul. Nothing about either his life or his paintings was quiet and subdued. His funeral however was not even attended by mourners. He was cremated and his remains were quietly sent to England. If one happens to miss the show in Madrid, it will be moved to Manhattan on April 20th, 2009 and will open soon afterward at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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