American Friends of the Prado Museum is a philantropic organisation dedicated to "the preservation, dissemination and enjoyment [...] of the legacy of the Prado Museum".
They recently bought a 15th Century painting by Lluís Borrassà, originally displayed in the altarpiece of the Saint Martha chapel in the Barcelona Cathedral, to expand the Catalan Gothic collection of the Prado Museum. They also produce a weekly video to comment on a different work of art, which is sent to Museo Nacional del Prado followers via Facebook or Instagram. Some of these videos can also be seen on
American Friends YouTube Channel. First you can watch the video comment about Goya's Majas, which lasts 7:38 and it is suitable for B2+ students with subtitles and C1 students without subtitles. The vocabulary is not too technical, you will find words like: naked, clothed, to elicit, praise, to scratch, a stir, a portrait, to be commissioned, to be displayed, an exhibit, sculpture, lifted, bent, elbow, nudity, reclining, a goddess, a nude, void, a burning [question], a patron, curly [hair], a duchess, keen to [get rid of], [to have a body] exhumed, to rumour, to paint over, [to bear] a resemblance, a leading [expert], [to cause] stir, Fine Arts, to be stored, censorship, appealing, upper-class, to bend the rules, liberal [sexual attitudes], controversy, brushstrokes, a precursor.
You can also watch the comment on
Goya's Black Paintings, recommended for C1 students (12:25). The Black Paintings are the most personal and imaginative work of the Aragonese genius, they depict the "unsettling" and "terrifying" evils of Goya's society like "superstition, magic, inequality, ignorance" or the "cruelty of war". These paintings placed Goya in a unique position in the history of art, as the precursor of avant-guard movements like expresionism and surrealism. Another fascinating video you can watch is the commentary on Goya's historical paintings of
the 2nd and 3rd of May 1808, where Goya becomes a forerunner of photo journalism, which is available on Facebook. There are many more comment videos on Velazquez, Veronese, Rubens, El Greco, Zuloaga etc.
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