Museo del Prado Summer 2022 Exhibitions: Gothic Painting, Cosmic Reflections, and Luis Paret

Despite the pandemic and low international tourism, the Museo del Prado closed 2021 with exponential growth in visitors and sponsorships. The museum's renovation of the Salón de Reinos, designed by Norman Foster, is set to begin at the end of July. During the recent NATO summit in Madrid, the Prado hosted a working dinner for heads of state. Its TikTok account has over 400,000 followers. For summer 2022, the museum presents several new exhibitions and reinstallations. The Gothic painting rooms (51A and 51B) have been reinstalled with intense blue walls, chosen by Joan Molina, head of the Gothic painting department, to evoke the atmosphere of late medieval spaces. The new Galleria Jonica, a windowed corridor on the first floor, now displays 56 sculptures from ancient Egypt to the Baroque. The 'Riflessi del cosmo' itinerary, guided by astrophysicist Montserrat Villar from CSIC, offers an interdisciplinary reading of 20 paintings, revealing celestial bodies depicted in works by Rubens, Tiepolo, Bruegel, and Giovanni dal Ponte. It runs until October 16. The temporary exhibition 'Luis Paret: A Rediscovery from the Time of Goya' is the first monographic show dedicated to the Spanish Rococo painter (1746-1799), curated by Gudrum Maurer. It features about 80 works, including genre scenes, landscapes, and religious subjects. Paret, overshadowed by Goya, was linked to Infante Don Luis de Borbón and spent six years in exile in Puerto Rico. The exhibition runs until August 21.