Aim for the first entry slot on a weekday or the last 90 minutes of the day. You’ll have more room to step back and compare paintings across the room. Avoid late morning if you want quieter viewing.
Included with Prado Museum tickets
Timings
RECOMMENDED DURATION
2 hours


Goya’s Black Paintings are included with all Prado Museum tickets. No separate ticket is needed. They hang in the museum’s Goya rooms on the ground-floor Spanish painting circuit, though you can head there directly once you’re inside instead of following the full highlights route. Book a timed-entry ticket with an audio guide or a guided tour if you want context for Goya’s late work without losing time in the larger collection.

Aim for the first entry slot on a weekday or the last 90 minutes of the day. You’ll have more room to step back and compare paintings across the room. Avoid late morning if you want quieter viewing.

Give these rooms 20–30 minutes on your own, or 30–40 minutes with an audio guide or guide. That’s enough time to notice relationships between works, not just the shock of the most famous canvas. If you rush, the quieter paintings flatten.

Treat this as a deliberate stop, not a leftover room near the end of your Prado visit. You can go there directly after entry, or place it after earlier Goya works for stronger contrast. Don’t leave it until museum fatigue sets in.

Crowds build from late morning through early afternoon, when school groups and general highlights traffic overlap. The rooms usually stay manageable, but tight sightlines make it harder to stand back properly. If space matters, skip the 11am–2pm window.

Start with Saturn Devouring His Son, The Dog, and Fight with Cudgels. Those three works show violence, emptiness, and instability in completely different ways. Stand back first, then move closer for brushwork, or you’ll miss how the compositions function.

Most visitors stop at the best-known painting, react, and move on. Instead, read the room as a set of late works made to live together. Don’t rely only on labels; compare the dark grounds, distorted figures, and abrupt empty space.
| Ticket type | Why choose it |
|---|---|
Timed entry | Best if you want straight access and full freedom to head directly to the Goya rooms. |
Audio guide ticket | Best if you want flexible pacing and commentary in 13 languages while lingering independently. |
Guided tour | Best if you want Goya connected to Velázquez and the Prado’s bigger Spanish masters story. |
Nothing else in the Prado feels this private. These paintings were made for the walls of Goya’s own house, not for a church, court, or public audience, which is why the mood lands so directly when you stand in front of them. The room rewards slow looking more than checklist viewing. Start with 3 works that show how varied this late cycle really is.

The best-known canvas is also the least ceremonial Goya in the museum. Look at Saturn’s eyes first, then the rough, unstable paint around the body. The violence matters, but the panic in the brushwork is what keeps the image unsettled.

One of the strangest paintings in the Prado is also one of the quietest. A tiny dog’s head rises from a sloping field of ocher and black, with a huge void above it. Its force comes from what Goya withholds.

At first glance, it looks like a straightforward fight. Then you notice the men seem trapped knee-deep in earth, unable to step back or escape. Stand far enough away to catch that immobilized tension before you focus on faces and clubs.
Most visitors don’t realize the Black Paintings were never intended for museum walls. Goya painted 14 works directly onto the plaster of his house, Quinta del Sordo, around 1819–1823; decades later, they were transferred to canvas and eventually entered the Prado. What began as a private wall painting now anchors how the museum explains Goya’s final years and the darker turn of modern art.
👉 Explore the full history of the Prado Museum
Created the 14 Black Paintings directly on the walls of his home.
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Led the 19th-century transfer from plaster to canvas, preserving the cycle for display.
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Bought Quinta del Sordo and financed the transfer that helped save the paintings.
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Address: Calle de Ruiz de Alarcón 23, 28014 Madrid
Yes. Entry to the Black Paintings is included with every valid Prado Museum ticket. No separate ticket exists.
No. Any Prado ticket gets you in. Audio guide tickets and guided tours simply give you more context once you’re there.
No. The paintings have no independent entrance and can only be seen after entering the Prado Museum.
Usually midway on a Prado highlights route. If they’re your priority, you can head to the Goya rooms directly after entry.
Plan 20–30 minutes on your own, or 30–40 minutes with an audio guide or guide. The room rewards slow comparison, not a quick pass.
Sometimes, but not always as a dedicated stop. Guided tours include Prado entry, yet exact time in the Goya rooms depends on route and guide.
Yes. Photography and video are prohibited throughout the Prado Museum, including the Goya rooms.
Yes. The Prado Museum is wheelchair accessible, and elevators and ramps make the Goya rooms reachable for visitors with reduced mobility.
If you have time for only one, start with Saturn Devouring His Son. Then stay for The Dog, which changes the mood of the whole room.
Yes. Audio guide tickets offer physical or digital commentary in 13 languages, useful if you want to linger in the Goya rooms independently.

Inclusions #
Timed entry to the Prado Museum
Access to all permanent and temporary exhibitions
Exclusive digital guidebook covering highlights, local tips & nearby landmarks (as per option selected)
Guided tour in English (as per option selected)
Digital audio guide in Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian (as per option selected)
Exclusions #
Souvenirs
Food & drinks
Transport

Soak in the Prado Museum's massive collection with the expertise of a guide in your language.
Inclusions #
Exclusions #

Unlock three world-class museums in Madrid’s Golden Triangle while saving money with one pass.
Inclusions #
Skip-the-line entry to Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Prado Museum, Reina Sofía Center
Access to the permanent collection at all three museums
Access to some temporary exhibitions at the Prado Museum and Reina Sofía Center
Exclusions #

Discover the best Spanish masterpieces up close with expert insights and seamless entry without the wait.
Inclusions #
Skip-the-line guided tour of the Prado Museum
Expert English, French, Spanish, and Italian-speaking guide (as per option selected)
Exclusions #
Food or drinks
Round-trip transfers

Inclusions #
Skip-the-line entry to the Prado and Reina Sofia Museums
Guided tour of the Prado and Reina Sofia Museums
Expert English or Spanish speaking guide (as per option selected)
Exclusions #


