Where can you see Diego Velázquez in Madrid?

At the Museo del Prado: Las Meninas, The Surrender of Breda, The Spinners and The Triumph of Bacchus. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Diego Velázquez's most famous work in Madrid?

Las Meninas, of 1656, at the Museo del Prado. The five-year-old Infanta Margarita with her maids of honour, a dwarf, a dog and a chaperone, and Velázquez himself at a great canvas. The king and queen appear only in the mirror at the back, where the viewer stands.

When and where was Diego Velázquez born?

In June 1599, at Seville, Spain. Diego Velázquez died on 6 August 1660, at Madrid, Spain, aged about 61.

What is Diego Velázquez known for?

Court painter to Philip IV from 1623 until his death in 1660. Las Meninas is in the Prado, with more than forty of his paintings. He painted himself into Las Meninas, at work on a huge canvas. Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter, of the Baroque.

Painter, 1599 to 1660

Diego Velázquez

To see Velázquez properly you have to come to Madrid. He spent his whole career at the court of Philip IV, and almost everything he painted for it is in the Prado, a few rooms from where it was hung.

Born: 1599, Seville, Spain
Died: 1660, Madrid, Spain
Movement: Baroque
In Madrid: 4 works in 1 museum

Where to see Diego Velázquez in Madrid

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Museo del Prado4 works

Las Meninas
1656
The five-year-old Infanta Margarita with her maids of honour, a dwarf, a dog and a chaperone, and Velázquez himself at a great canvas. The king and queen appear only in the mirror at the back, where the viewer stands.
The Surrender of Breda
1634 to 1635
The Dutch governor hands the key of Breda to the Spanish general Ambrogio Spinola, who lays a hand on his shoulder. The lances of the Spanish army stand against the sky.
The Spinners
about 1655 to 1660
Women spinning and winding wool in the foreground of a tapestry workshop. Behind them, in the light, the myth of Arachne, who challenged a goddess at the loom.
The Triumph of Bacchus
1628 to 1629
The god of wine crowns a drinker among a group of peasants, who grin at us from the canvas. Madrileños call it Los Borrachos, the drunkards.

The life of Diego Velázquez

Velázquez came to Madrid from Seville in 1623, painted the young Philip IV, and was made a court painter at twenty-four. He stayed at court for the rest of his life, rising to be chamberlain of the palace, and painted the king, his family, his dwarfs and jesters, and the royal collection's mythologies.

Most of those pictures stayed in the royal palaces and passed to the Prado when it opened in 1819. That is why the museum has more of his work than any other in the world.

What to know

Court painter to Philip IV from 1623 until his death in 1660
Las Meninas is in the Prado, with more than forty of his paintings
He painted himself into Las Meninas, at work on a huge canvas

Born: June 1599, Seville, Spain
Died: 6 August 1660, Madrid, Spain

Diego Velázquez: common questions

Where can you see Diego Velázquez in Madrid?: At the Museo del Prado: Las Meninas, The Surrender of Breda, The Spinners and The Triumph of Bacchus. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Diego Velázquez's most famous work in Madrid?: Las Meninas, of 1656, at the Museo del Prado. The five-year-old Infanta Margarita with her maids of honour, a dwarf, a dog and a chaperone, and Velázquez himself at a great canvas. The king and queen appear only in the mirror at the back, where the viewer stands.
When and where was Diego Velázquez born?: In June 1599, at Seville, Spain. Diego Velázquez died on 6 August 1660, at Madrid, Spain, aged about 61.
What is Diego Velázquez known for?: Court painter to Philip IV from 1623 until his death in 1660. Las Meninas is in the Prado, with more than forty of his paintings. He painted himself into Las Meninas, at work on a huge canvas. Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter, of the Baroque.