Museo del Prado has an exhibition (now through June 28th) which allows the blind to touch carbon copies of original paintings. “Touching the Prado” is revolutionary and we might question why it took so very long? Unlocking the visual arts for the blind is quite a difficult thing. The Prado is unique in that it uses a special relief painting technique, which starts with a high resolution photograph of the painting and selects certain features to enhance. A print is then created with special ink that adds volume to the flat replica. Hopefully, this technique will become more common among the world’s art museums so that everyone is able to appreciate the masterpieces so many of us might take for granted!
A visitor touches a 3-D replica of Velázquez’s “The Triumph of Bacchus”,(1628–29) at Museo del Prado.
Image courtesy of: Hypoallergic from Museu del Prado.
3-D masterpieces line the Museu del Prado hallways.
Image courtesy of: Hyperallergic from Museo del Prado