普拉多一如其他欧洲博物馆，艺术品收藏始于皇室。其奠基者是哈布斯堡和波旁两个王朝。1819年开馆后，皇室藏品逐渐移入馆内。尔后通过国家从艺术市场或展览会选购，或由私人捐赠，馆藏日丰。1868年，西班牙革命推翻伊利莎贝尔二世（1833～1868在位)，“皇家博物馆”收归国有，改称“国家绘画雕刻博物馆”。又因其坐落在马德里的普拉多林阴道，使冠以“普拉多”的名称。1872年，普拉多根据19世纪下叶的自由政策，没收了被查封的宗教团体的艺术藏品，特别是接收了建于1836年的国家三位一体博物馆的藏品，由此大量增加了宗教题材的西班牙绘画与雕刻作品。
20世纪以来，普拉多继续扩大和更新，现已成为全西班牙陈列、展览、报告会、音乐会等各种文化活动最重要的中心。它对建筑及设施的维修十分重视；此外，根据博物馆学的新要求，致力于展室温湿调节、排水防火等各种改进措施，以使博物馆随着时代的向前而顺利发展。
The Museo del Prado is a world class museum and art gallery located in Madrid， Spain. It features one of the world，s finest collections of European art， from the 14th century through the early 19th century.
Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture， the Museum also has important collections of more than 5，000 drawings， 2，000 prints， 1，000 coins and medals， and almost 2，000 decorative decorative adj.装饰的 objects and works of art. Sculpture is represented by more than 700 works and by a smaller number of sculptural sculptural adj.雕刻的， 雕刻般的 fragments. The superb picture gallery consisting of 8，600 paintings is the factor which lends the Museum its world class status. The Prado undisputedly has the world，s finest collections of works by Spain，s Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya， as well as of Hieronymus Bosch (a personal favorite of King Philip II of Spain). The museum also has excellent collections of El Greco， Peter Paul Rubens， Raphael， Titian， Bartolome Esteban Murillo. Fine examples of the works of Botticelli， Caravaggio， Albrecht Dürer， Rembrandt， Veronese， and many other notable artists are on display in the Museum.
The most famous work on display at the Museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez. Velázquez not only provided the Prado with his own superb works， but his keen eye and sensibility sensibility n.敏感性 was also responsible for bringing much of the museum，s fine collection of Italian masters to Spain.
Pablo Picasso，s famous work Guernica， was exhibited in the Prado upon its return to Spain after the restoration restoration n.恢复， 归还， 复位， 复职， 赔偿， 修补， 重建， 修复物 of democracy， but was moved to the Museo Reina Sofia to take advantage of a superior space for the exhibition of the immense canvas.
The Museo del Prado is one of the buildings constructed during the reign of Charles III as part of a grandiose grandiose adj.宏伟的， 堂皇的， 宏大的 building scheme designed to bestow bestow vt.给予， 安放 upon Madrid a monumental urban space. This “prado” (meaning meadow in Spanish) gave its name to the area (Salón del Prado， later Paseo del Prado)， and later still to the Museum itself upon nationalisation. Work on the building stopped between the conclusion of Charles III，s reign and during the Spanish War of Independence and was only initiated again during reign of Charles III，s grandson， Ferdinand VII. The structure was used as headquarters headquarters n.司令部， 指挥部， 总部 for the cavalry and a gunpowder - store for the Napoleonic troops based in Madrid during the War of Independence. Upon the deposition of Isabella II in 1868， the Museum was nationalised nationalise v.使成国家 and acquired the new name of Museo del Prado. The building housed the royal collection of arts： it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement enlargement n.放大 to the Museum took place in 1918.
The most recent enlargement was the incorporation of two buildings (nearby but not adjacent) into the institutional structure of the Museum. The Casón del Buen Retiro since 1971 houses the bulk of 19th century art. The Palacio de Villahermosa now houses the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum， the bulk of whose collection was originally privately gathered and not part of the State collection， but which well serves to fill the gaps and weaknesses of the Prado，s collection； the Thyssen Bormisza has been controlled as part of the Prado system since 1985.
During the Spanish Civil War， upon the recommendation recommendation n.推荐， 介绍(信)， 劝告， 建议 of the League of Nations， the Museum staff removed three hundred and fiftythree paintings， one hundred and sixtyeight drawings and the Dauphin，s Treasure and sent the art to Valencia， then later to Girona and finally to Geneva. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the Museum upon the commencement of World War II.
Mention should be made of Madrid，s other two national museums near by； the Museo Arqueológico houses some art of Ancient Egypt， Mesopotamia， Greece， and Rome formerly in the Prado Collection. The Museo Reina Sofia houses 20th century artwork. Supplementing supplement n.补遗， 补充， 附录， 增刊 v.补充 the Prado with these two museums， as well as the Buen Retiro and Thyssen Bornemisza (all within a short walk of each other)， the visitor to Madrid can get a view of the history and scope of the finest art of Western Civilization perhaps to be rivaled rival n.竞争者， 对手 v.竞争， 对抗， 相匹敌 in any one city only by the collections of the museums of Paris and London.
The Barcelona Museum Picasso
毕加索博物馆
世界上有两座毕加索博物馆，一座在巴黎，另一座就在巴塞罗那旧市区蒙卡答路(Montcada)15号。巴塞罗那毕加索博物馆是一间建于15世纪的优美宅邸，它有着幽静的庭院、华丽的墙壁和窗棂。馆中藏有毕加索及其他一些画家的作品。 该馆是栋14世纪建筑物，虽然道路窄小外观也不起眼，收藏却很丰富。这里曾是毕加索的寓所，在此可以一睹毕氏少年时期的作品，由于他成名在法国，最好、最成熟的作品多流散在国外，在他成名后西班牙才全力收集其少年时期的习作、画作。作品以人物肖像居多，素描、水彩、油画都有，结构严谨基础深厚，很难想像他日后跳脱传统学院派的桎梏，自创立体透视画风的轨迹。
The Barcelona Museum Picasso is the most visited museum in the city and occupies four of the medieval stone mansions mansion n.大厦， 官邸， 公寓(用复数，用于专有名词中) on Carrer de Montcada. The buildings alone are worth admiring， with an impressive courtyard courtyard n.庭院， 院子 and internal staircase， but most people come to see the many works of art and learn more about this worldfamous artist. Picasso himself donated donate v.捐赠， 赠予 many of the paintings and his widow also contributed 141 stunning Picasso ceramics.