Tourism in Spain is a major contributor to national economic life, contributing to about 11.8% of Spain's GDP. Ever since the 1960s and 1970s, the country has been a popular destination for summer holidays, especially with large numbers of tourists from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, the Benelux, and the United States, among others. Accordingly, Spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second-biggest in the world.
The Prado Museum, officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The Prado Museum is one of the most visited sites in the world, and is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now the largest outside Italy.
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida was a Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the bright sunlight of Spain and sunlit water.
Francesco Ribalta , also known as Francisco Ribaltá or de Ribalta, was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, mostly of religious subjects.
Bartolomé Bermejo was a Spanish painter who adopted Flemish painting techniques and conventions. Born in Cordoba, he is known for his work in the Crown of Aragon, including the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia. His real name was Bartolomé de Cárdenas: the name Bermejo, which means auburn in Spanish, possibly relates to his hair colour. Bermejo may relate also to his name, Cardenas; Cardeno means purplish.
Juan Ribalta was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period. He was born and died in Valencia. His father, Francisco Ribalta, was a famous painter, active in the style of Caravaggio. Some sources said he was born in Madrid and later moved to Valencia. His mother Inés Pelayo died in 1601. Juan's works and style are similar to that of his father. He later painted Saint Sebastian at the Valencia Cathedral in 1616, later the small Adoration of the Shepherds and St. Peter, he also painted portraits including the poet Gaspar de Aguilar.
Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis is a 1634 portrait by Diego Velázquez, now in the Prado Museum. Doña Antonia and her son Luis are shown standing, captured in an elegant melancholy. The woman uses the chair to support herself, to emphasize her social status in the Court, where she had the right to sit. According to different studies of the canvas, it is believed that the child's figure could have been added afterwards.
The Salón de Reinos or salón grande is a 17th-century building in Madrid, originally a wing of the Buen Retiro Palace. The Salón de Reinos and the Casón del Buen Retiro are the only survivors of the original grand scheme of the palace. Built between 1630 and 1635, the Hall of Realms housed the largest paintings in the royal collection, now all in the Museo del Prado. It is named after its paintings of the coats of arms of the 24 kingdoms which formed the Kingdom of Spain at the time of Philip IV of Spain.
Cecilio Plá y Gallardo was a Spanish painter and illustrator.
Emilio Sala y Francés was a Spanish painter; primarily of female portraits.
Jean Laurent or, in Spanish, Juan Laurent Minier; sometimes simply J. Laurent was a French photographer who mostly worked in Spain.
The 1st Division was a division of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War.
José Lino Vaamonde Valencia was a Spanish architect who played a leading role in preserving the nation's artistic treasures during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Following the civil war he went into exile in Venezuela, where he became the head architect of the Shell subsidiary and developed a range of buildings including service stations, oil camps, colleges and office buildings.
The Governor of the Bank of Spain is the head of the Bank of Spain, the central bank of the Kingdom of Spain. The Bank of Spain is integrated in the European System of Central Banks and, as such, the Governor is an ex officio member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.
Ángel Viñas Martín is a Spanish economist and historian. He has published many works dealing with the Spanish Civil War focusing on the war finance as well as the international relations aspects of the conflict.
Ismael Saz Campos is a Spanish historian, specialised in the study of Falangism, Francoist Spain and the Spanish-Italian relations during the Spanish Civil War. He is a professor at the University of Valencia.
Excursion in the Countryside of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia is an oil on canvas painting by Flemish artists Jan Brueghel the Elder and Joos de Momper. It was painted in the first quarter of the 17th century, and is currently housed at the Museum of Prado in Madrid.
Alberto Corazón Climent was a Spanish multidisciplinary artist who combined graphic design, sculpture, painting, and photography into his works. Some of his works are housed at contemporary museums including Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, and Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. He worked as a graphic designer for clients including the organizations National Library of Spain, Autonomous University of Madrid, Anaya, ONCE, Círculo de Bellas Artes, and Renfe Operadora. He was inducted as the member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 2006.
Our Lady of the Rosary is a 1650-1655 oil on canvas painting of Our Lady of the Rosary by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, previously in the El Escorial Monastery and Palacio Real de Madrid and now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
