Why it matters:

This floor holds the Museo del Prado’s most famous works and the paintings that define Spanish and European art. Starting here means you see the icons before attention fatigue sets in.

What to see:

• Las Meninas – Velázquez (Room 12)
  
• The Garden of Earthly Delights – Bosch (Room 56)
  
• The Third of May 1808 – Goya (Room 32)
  
• El Greco’s elongated, surreal religious figures (Rooms 8–11)
  
• Rubens’ mythological masterpieces (Rooms 62-65)

How to navigate:

Start with Velázquez, then loop clockwise: Rubens → Bosch → Titian → Goya. This path builds context and prevents backtracking.

Why it matters:

This floor explains the artistic roots that influenced everything upstairs. Religion, Flemish realism, symbolism, and Spain’s early identity.

What to see:

• Van der Weyden’s Descent from the Cross (Room 58)
  
• Flemish Gothic panels and early Spanish devotional works (Rooms 51–55)
  
• Pedro de Mena sculptures like life-like faces, glass tears, real hair (Room 19)
  
• Decorative rooms with tapestries and devotional art (Rooms 60–64)

How to navigate:

Move room-to-room in chronological order, it’s laid out like chapters. If a room feels similar to the previous one, that’s intentional as this period was about repetition and devotion, not experimentation.

Why it matters:

This floor reveals the transition from dramatic history painting to intimate portraiture, sketches, and the beginnings of modernity. It's also where the Prado breathes with fewer crowds and slower pacing.

What to see:

• Goya’s sketches and early works (Room 67a)
  
• 19th-century portrait galleries (Rooms 67–69)
  
• Landscapes and still lives are overlooked by most visitors (Room 67b)

How to navigate:

Stroll, don’t hunt. This floor is about discovery, not “checking off.” It’s the perfect end to the narrative arc: from grand storytelling to personal expression.