Prado Extends the Opening Hours of its Turner Exhibition

MADRID.- Thanks to the support of Turismo Madrid, from 1 July, until 31 August visitors to the Museum can take advantage of two additional hours (Tuesdays to Saturdays) to visit this season’s major exhibition “Turner and the Masters”. In addition, and coinciding with the launch of this initiative, the Museum is opening its Terrace-Café Prado, located in a courtyard of the North Pavilion of the Villanueva Building. It offers free access and late opening hours (until 10pm) throughout the summer months.

The exhibition “Turner and the Masters” analyses the work of the great 19th-century, British landscape painter J. W. M. Turner in relation to the Old Masters who inspired him and the contemporaries painters with whom he consciously competed. This exceptional extension of the opening hours until 10pm (last entry 9pm) during July and August – ideal for tourists and as an evening leisure activity – aims to suits the needs of the widest range of the visiting public. In addition, it increases the number of tickets available per day (restricted to entry every 15 minutes) from Tuesdays to Saturdays. Normal opening hours apply on Sundays, 9am to 8pm, with last entry at 7pm.

Several people look at the artwork 'Rome From Vatican' by British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner during the presentation of the exhibition 'Turner and the Masters' at Prado Museum in Madrid. The exhibition runs from 22 June to 19 September 2010. EPA/EMILIO NARANJO

The Exhibition
Sponsored by Fundación AXA and with the support of the Comunidad de Madrid, “Turner and the Masters” (the most important exhibition to be devoted to the artist in Spain, where his work is not represented) offers a highly innovative dialogue between Turner’s most important paintings, those by earlier masters and works by contemporaries. The version now on display in the Prado features 80 works loaned from European and American institutions and collections including a number of major paintings not seen in the versions of the exhibition shown in London and Paris, such as Shade and Darkness. The Evening after the Flood, Light and Colour. The Morning after the Flood, and Peace. Burial at Sea, three masterpieces from the end of the artist’s career. With the intention of offering a comprehensive overview, the exhibition reveals the clear links between Turner’s work and that of leading painters such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Claude, among others, as well as the profoundly original way in which he assimilated their influence at the outset of his career, developing it to its furthest consequences.

Located in a pleasant exterior courtyard on the north side of the Museum (between the Goya and Jerónimos entrances), this new summer terrace will have 20 tables serving breakfasts, light snacks, pre-lunch drinks with accompanying snacks, and lunches such as salads, tabbouleh, hot sandwiches, Spanish ham and cheeses, smoked salmon, etc.

The Prado’s summer terrace opens at 11am and will remain open in relation to the opening hours of the Turner exhibition (until 10pm, everyday). The terrace is open to the public in general, with direct entrance from the street (ticket to the Museum not required). The Museum’s indoor Café Prado will maintain its normal opening hours, from 9am to 7.30pm, and is only open to visitors already inside the Museum.