‘The pictures, they look at you.’ A stroll with novelist John Banville through Spain’s Prado Museum

Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — Irish novelist John Banville has enjoyed unlimited access to Spain’s Prado Museum for the past month as its latest writer-in-residence. But he prefers to visit during opening hours, along with thousands of other museumgoers. He says that coming after hours is just “too eerie” because he feels observed by the gaze from the portraits. He now plans to write a short work of fiction to be published as part of the museum’s “Writing The Prado” fellowship program based on his fascination with the piercing eyes that stare down from the masterpieces of Velázquez and Rubens.