MADRID.- Visitors approaching the Jerónimos entrance of the Prado Museum will continue to encounter one of Juan Muñoz’s most striking sculptural works for at least two more years. The museum has announced that Thirteen Laughing at Each Other, installed outside the historic building during the exhibition Stories of Art, will remain in place until March 2028.

The extension has been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Juan Muñoz Estate, which has agreed to loan the sculpture to the museum free of charge. The decision allows the Prado to maintain one of the most memorable elements of the recent exhibition dedicated to the Spanish sculptor, which concluded last Sunday after attracting nearly 100,000 visitors.

Curated by Vicente Todolí, the exhibition drew 96,940 people to the museum’s temporary exhibition galleries C and D. The show explored Muñoz’s distinctive sculptural language—one that blends theatrical staging, psychological tension and subtle humor. For many visitors, the experience began even before entering the museum, with the installation of Thirteen Laughing at Each Other greeting pedestrians near the Jerónimos Gate.

The Prado said the continuation of the installation also enriches the surroundings of the Villanueva Building, the museum’s historic headquarters. Madrid’s City Council has already granted the necessary permits allowing the sculpture to remain temporarily in its current location.

Muñoz, one of Spain’s most influential contemporary sculptors, frequently visited the Prado and drew inspiration from its collections. During the exhibition, several of his works were also displayed inside the museum, including Conversation Piece III and Sara with Billiard Table. Installed in the Central Gallery and Room 12, these pieces created an unexpected dialogue with paintings by masters such as Rubens and Velázquez.

Created in 2001, Thirteen Laughing at Each Other is made of bronze and corten steel and depicts a group of male figures caught in a moment of collective laughter. At first glance the scene appears playful, but the interaction among the figures hints at something more ambiguous. One man seems to push another, who continues laughing even as he begins to fall.

This tension between humor and unease lies at the heart of Muñoz’s work. The artist was fascinated by the dramatic sculptural groups of antiquity—especially the famous Laocoön—and by how Mannerist and Baroque artists later used similar compositions to heighten theatrical emotion. In Thirteen Laughing at Each Other, those historical references are transformed into a contemporary scene that feels both familiar and unsettling.

The sculpture also reflects Muñoz’s interest in the fragile boundary between laughter and cruelty. Influenced in part by Francisco de Goya, whose works often reveal the darker side of human behavior, Muñoz created figures that seem to exist in a shared yet mysterious narrative.

Despite the disquiet his sculptures can provoke, Muñoz himself emphasized that his intention was not to frighten viewers. Instead, he sought to reveal the strange atmosphere of human interactions—moments when joy, discomfort and uncertainty coexist.

With the sculpture now set to remain outside the Prado until 2028, visitors will continue to encounter this enigmatic group of laughing figures—an artwork that invites reflection even before stepping inside one of the world’s greatest museums.