The Institution
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando is the artistic institution with the longest history and the greatest cultural validity in Spain.
It was officially inaugurated in 1752 during the reign of Fernando VI. The establishment of the academies in Europe played a fundamental role in the normalization of aesthetic taste during the Enlightenment. Since 1773 the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando has its headquarters in the Goyeneche palace in Madrid, designed by José de Churriguera and adapted to the neoclassical taste by Diego de Villanueva.
At present it is made up of fifty-six academics in number, personalities of recognized prestige in the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, music, cinema, graphic art, photography, design and art history and theory.
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando was created by Royal Decree of April 12, 1752.
It is one of the eight Royal Academies of national scope integrated into the Institute of Spain that aims to "promote artistic creativity, as well as the study, dissemination and protection of the arts and cultural heritage, particularly painting, sculpture , architecture, music and the new arts of the image".
It is currently governed by the statutes approved by Royal Decree 542/2004 of April 13 and by the Regulations that develop them, endorsed by the Academy on May 9, 2005.
