It’s a warning sign at art museums around the world: “Don’t touch the artwork.” But Spain’s famous Prado Museum is changing that, with an exhibit where visitors are not only allowed to touch the paintings — they’re encouraged to do so. The Prado has made 3-D copies of some of the most renowned works in its collection — including those by Francisco Goya, Diego Velazquez and El Greco — to allow blind people to feel them. It’s a special exhibit for those who normally can’t enjoy paintings.
“Since I went blind, I’ve been to museums maybe twice,” says Guadelupe Iglesias, 53, who lost her vision to retinal disease in 2001. “I can listen to the audio guide, but I have to imagine — remember — what the paintings look like.”
Now Iglesias is back at her beloved Prado, rubbing her hands all over copies of the masterpieces she used to view from a distance.
“I used to come to the Prado all the time,” she says. “I love Velazquez. I used to bring my daughter and her friends here to see this very painting.”
Iglesias stands in front of a 3D copy of Velazquez’s 17th century work, Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan. While a tour guide describes the painting’s layout, Iglesias runs her fingers over a prickly crown of laurels on the god Apollo’s head.
“Fantastic!” she exclaims, beaming.
Most visitors to the “Touching the Prado” exhibit are not vision-impaired. The museum provides opaque glasses for them — like blindfolds.
“It’s kind of weird. I sort of kept checking over the top of the glasses to see what I was touching, because you kinda can’t tell,” says Isabel O’Donnell, 20, a college student visiting Madrid from Buffalo, NY.
“I think it’s a really cool way to experience art even if you’re not vision-impaired. I like art, and I’ve always kind of wondered what art feels like,” O’Donnell says. “Touching paintings seems like a really cool idea. It’s more like what the figures feel like, if they were real.”
