On the Reverse

Curated by Miguel Ángel Blanco, this new exhibition turns around works of art to reveal their hidden side, the reverse. It runs from 7 November to 3 March 2024, in Rooms A and B of the Prado's Edificio Jerónimos building.

Research on the museum collections, which include the complete photographic documentation, and the restoration tasks carried out to recover the original media have also contributed to unveiling representations, messages, evidence, data… contained on the back of art works, to which hardly any attention had been paid.

This exhibition shows the secrets hidden on the B-side of the pictorial medium, whether it is on board, canvas, metal or stone. The vast majority of paintings have always been displayed hanging on a wall, so only the artist and possibly the collector would know the secrets hidden on the reverse, that intimate and private space that is forbidden to the public.

Miguel Ángel Blanco, who has for decades merged the fields of Art and Nature and is accustomed to investigating the mysteries of matter and observing reality from different angles, has devised this original proposal with his open and inquisitive perspective. An exhibition that turns works of art around to promote a new and more complete relationship between members of the public and the artists who created the selected works, through the surprises and revelations hidden on the back.

Image Credits:

The Holy Family (front and back) Bernard van Orley, Prado Museum