13 Best Paintings at the Prado Museum

The Prado Museum is the spearhead of the art triangle formed by the Reina Sofía Museum, the Thyssen Museum and the museum that is the subject of this article. Of all the things to see and do in Madrid, visiting this historic museum should be a priority for anyone visiting the Spanish capital.

Although its collection is not the most extensive, with some 8,000 works of art of which only 1,713 are on display, its historical value and variety make it one of the most important collections of paintings in the world. Famous artists such as Goya, Velázquez, Rubens and Bosch have their home in the Prado.

You can easily spend a whole day in its galleries, but as this is not always possible, it is best to find out in advance which are the main works on display. With this in mind, here is a list of the paintings you should not miss at the Prado Museum.

We begin our review of the most important works in the Prado with one of its most important artists, Francisco de Goya, and one of his most striking works. Saturn Devouring His Son is part of a collection of 14 works known as the Black Paintings due to their dark colours and sombre subject matter.

These characteristics are clearly evident in this particularly sombre painting, which depicts the god Cronus, or Saturn, devouring one of his sons for fear that he would one day be dethroned.

This painting is astonishing for the terror evoked by the god's gaze, the prominence and cruelty of the blood, and the contrast of the colours used by Goya.

Details of interest

• Author: Francisco de Goya.
• Date: 1820.
• Location: Room 067 of the Prado.

We move from the terror of Saturn devouring his son to the eroticism of Goya's The Naked Maja.

The painting was commissioned by Manuel Godoy, prime minister of King Charles IV, who had a particular taste for erotic art. Goya was chosen because at that time he was the leading painter among the nobility and one of the best in Europe.

Goya depicted a young woman lying naked as if she were Venus, but with unmistakable signs that the model was human. It was for this reason and certain details of her nudity that the painting was considered one of the first complete nudes of a woman outside of mythology.

Godoy also commissioned another painting, but with the woman clothed, so that when the two paintings were superimposed, they appeared to be a nude. The great mystery of the painting is the identity of the maja, which Goya kept anonymous.

Details of interest

• Author: Francisco de Goya.
• Date: 1795
• Location: Room 038 of the Prado Museum.

Napoleon dominated Europe during Goya's lifetime and, taking advantage of his passage through Spain to conquer Portugal, decided to invade the country and crown his brother Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain. On 2 May 1808, a popular uprising broke out among the Spanish people and on the 3rd, the French army retaliated by shooting thousands of people.

This is what Goya depicts in one of his greatest works. The painting The Third of May 1808 in Madrid is considered the first great contemporary work, as it has no similar precedents and gave rise to styles such as Romanticism.

The painting of the executions of 3 May inspired artists such as Picasso, who based his famous Guernica on this work.

Interesting details

• Author: Francisco de Goya
• Date: 1814
• Location: Room 064 of the Prado Museum.

Las Meninas by Velázquez is undoubtedly the most representative and famous painting in the Prado Museum.

It is one of the largest canvases, measuring over 3 metres wide and almost 3 metres high, by the Seville-born painter and his magnum opus. Rivers of ink have been spilled over the painting due to the mysteries surrounding it and the originality of its composition.

The painting depicts up to 11 characters, including the meninas, daughters of Philip IV and Mariana of Austria, who also appear in the painting within another painting, and even Velázquez himself. The artist depicts himself in the foreground as if it were the first selfie in history.

The complexity of the planes, the way he represents the different figures and countless other details make Las Meninas a masterpiece that is well worth the price of admission to the Prado Museum.

Details of interest

• Author: Diego Velázquez.
• Date: 1656.
• Location: Room 012 of the Prado.

Considered a masterpiece of Spanish-Flemish painting, The Crucifixion was commissioned by Bishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca from Juan de Flandes, who painted it to form part of the main altarpiece of Palencia Cathedral.

The work was part of the altarpiece along with 10 other paintings by the same artist, who was unable to see them installed in the cathedral before his death. However, the crucifixion is considered the best painting of the 10 due to the quality and detail of the scene.

Details of interest

• Author: Juan de Flandes.
• Date: 1509.
• Location: Room 057 of the Prado.

The painting The Three Graces depicts Aglaea, Thalia and Euphrosyne, the daughters of Zeus, naked and embracing each other in a scene of apparent sensuality in keeping with the beauty standards of the 17th century.

The innovative way of depicting these three goddesses made this painting by Rubens one of his finest works, so much so that King Philip IV took it for himself even though the artist had painted it for his own chambers.

• Author: Peter Paul Rubens.
• Date: 1635
• Location: Room 029 of the Prado Museum.

Details of interest

Rogier Van der Weyden's masterpiece is a curious rectangular triptych with a protrusion in the centre for the cross, painted with outstanding skill for the period. The colours and exquisite technique of the artist are surprising, considering that it is a work from the early 15th century.

Interestingly, The Descent is in the Prado because King Philip II took a fancy to it and had it brought to Spain by ship. The ship was wrecked, but thanks to the good packaging, the work remained intact.

Details of interest

• Author: Rogier Van der Weyden
• Date: 1443
• Location: Room 058 of the Prado

Bosch's magnum opus, known as The Garden of Earthly Delights, is a famous triptych depicting various scenes from the creation of the world to the possible fate of humanity. When closed, the triptych shows the scene of the creation, and when opened, the work is divided into three parts.

The first two, on the left and in the centre, depict paradise and the sin of Adam and Eve, while the scene on the right symbolises the hell to which sin leads.

The profound iconography of the painting, its technique and colours, and the complexity of the work have made it one of the main attractions of the Prado Museum.

Details of interest

• Author: Hieronymus Bosch
• Date: 1500
• Location: Room 056A of the Prado

Fra Angelico's original name was Guido di Piero, and he was a Renaissance painter based in Florence. He was ordained as a priest and changed his name, then began to paint, with The Annunciation being one of his first and most controversial works.

Fra Angelico's representation of The Annunciation was unusual and caused much controversy at the time. It was only posthumously that his work was recognised as ahead of its time and his finest work.

Interesting details

• Author: Guido di Piero
• Date: 1426
• Location: Room 056B of the Prado

To understand this painting by the master Velázquez, you need to know its historical context. At the end of the 16th century, the Netherlands was immersed in the so-called Eighty Years' War, in which it sought independence from Spain. The city of Breda belonged to the Netherlands until King Philip IV decided to retake it.

The scene depicts the moment when, once conquered, the nobles surrender their sovereignty to the Spanish. King Philip IV wanted to immortalise the moment, so he commissioned Velázquez to paint a large-scale version of The Surrender of Breda to decorate the Buen Retiro Palace.

Details of interest

• Author: Diego Velázquez
• Date: 1635
• Location: Room 009A of the Prado.

Dürer was a painter with a high opinion of himself. So much so that he used himself as a model to represent Jesus Christ. As a result of this self-love, he depicted himself wearing the finest clothes of the time and in very flattering colours. He sought perfection to such an extent that even the landscape seen from the window is inspired by beautiful Italy, even though he was in Germany.

Apart from the artist's ego, Dürer's Self-Portrait is painted with remarkable technique that propelled him in his craft. A craft, incidentally, that was not considered befitting of nobles, which is a contradiction in the way Dürer painted himself.

Interesting details

• Author: Albrecht Dürer
• Date: 1498
• Location: Room 055B

At first, the Portrait of a Cardinal went unnoticed until it was discovered that its author was Raphael, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the Italian Renaissance in the history of art.

Apart from Raphael's impeccable technique, the work aroused the interest of many because of its ambiguity, as the portrait could be attributed to many cardinals of the time.

It is not known for certain who the cardinal who posed for the Italian artist was, although there is a list of two or three probable names. The perspective of the portrait is very reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Details of interest

• Author: Raphael
• Date: 1511
• Location: Room 049 of the Prado Museum.

El Greco is another of the star artists featured in the Prado's collection. The museum houses several of his works , but the painting The Knight with his Hand on his Chest is particularly noteworthy The work depicts a gentleman of around 30 years of age wearing typical 16th-century clothing.

Of all the portraits painted by the artist and on display at the Prado, this was one of the first to arrive at the museum and one of the most distinguished, due to the inclusion of an element such as the sword, which is rarely seen in this type of portrait.

It was this sword, together with the solemn gesture of the knight, that boosted the fame of this work among those painted by the artist, who died in Toledo.

Details of interest

• Author: El Greco
• Date: 1580
• Location: Room 009B