COP25: WWF and Prado Museum use art to show climate change Published duration 3 December 2019 Related Topics COP26

Conservation group WWF and the Prado Museum have joined forces to raise the alarm about the impact of climate change, as political leaders and diplomats meet at the COP25 climate change summit in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Together they selected four masterpieces from the Prado collection to highlight the environmental consequences of various phenomena attributed to climate change.

The conference was due to be held in Chile, but was cancelled by the government there following weeks of civil disturbances, and is being hosted by Spain instead.

Felipe IV a Caballo (Philip IV on Horseback) by Diego Velázquez...

image copyright Museo del Prado

...is used to highlight the issue of rising sea levels.

image copyright WWF Spain / Museo del Prado

El quitasol (The Parasol) by Francisco de Goya...

image copyright Museo del Prado

...is doctored to reflect the social drama of climate refugees.

image copyright WWF Spain / Museo del Prado

Joachim Patinir's El paso de la laguna Estigia (Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx) becomes...

image copyright Museo del Prado

...an illustration of the impact of extreme drought on river and crops.

image copyright WWF Spain / Museo del Prado

And Niños en la playa (Boys on the Beach) by Joaquín Sorolla...

image copyright Museo del Prado

...now depicts the extinction of species.

image copyright WWF Spain / Museo del Prado

COP25 ends on 13 December.